Many observations of spiders feeding on cockroaches are quite general, and many observers have failed to identify either the spider or its prey. Belt (1874) stated that "the cockroaches that infest houses in the tropics ... have numerous enemies—birds, rats, scorpions, and spiders." When Belt tried to drive a cockroach toward a large cockroach-eating spider, the insect rushed away from him until it came within a foot of the spider when it would double back, never advancing nearer.
Beebe (1925) watched a giant "wood roach," which was in the grasp of a 2-inch ctenid spider, fly through the window of his British Guiana laboratory. While the spider ate the cockroach, the insect gave birth to 51 nymphs. Sonan (1924) reported that large gray spiders devour nymphs and adults of Periplaneta americana and P. australasiae in Formosa; this spider also occurs on Hiyakejima Island and Okinawa. Passmore (1936), who has produced some excellent photographs of tarantulas, stated that they destroy cockroaches. Rau (1940) stated that American and oriental cockroaches were the principal item of diet of a friend's pet tarantula for several years. Kaston (personal communication, 1953) successfully fed a tarantula with Periplaneta americana.
Bristowe (1941) found that the British species of Ectobius are readily accepted by Xysticus, Clubiona, Drassodes, Zelotes, Tarantula, and the web-builders Ciniflo and Aranea. The British domestic cockroaches were accepted by Tegenaria and Ciniflo, spiders large enough to overpower them, and were useful as food for tropical avicularids, ctenids, and sparassids in captivity.
Family THERAPHOSIDAE
Avicularia avicularia (Linnaeus) and Avicularia sp.?
Common name.—Bird-eating spider.
Natural prey.—Periplaneta americana, Trinidad (Main, 1924, 1930): The remains of the host were compressed into globular form by the spider after it had extracted the nutritive parts.
Phormictopus cancerides (Latreille)
Experimental prey.—Cockroach, West Indies (Wolcott, 1953).