Latrodectus indistinctus Pickard-Cambridge
Common name.—Button spider.
Natural prey.—Karnyia discoidalis, South Africa, Western Cape Province (Hesse, 1942): The nest is constructed on the ground among grass stems or other vegetation. Preferred sites are slight hollows, hoof imprints, etc. Nests are roughly tubular. The remains of insects are entangled in the walls of the nest where they form dense accumulations. Predatory activities of the spider are limited to an area close to the tubular entrance to the nest and do not extend beyond the trapping strands near the entrance. Capture is dependent upon accidental contact of the insect with sticky threads surrounding the entrance. This spider apparently attacks any insect or arachnid that becomes entangled in the nest. In an examination of 40 nests, remains of 6 K. discoidalis were found.