Getting a Leg Up in the World: Observations of Food Provisioning Maternal Care in the Common Candy-striped Spider, Enoplognatha ovata (Clerck)

Jenna L. Auguscinski¹ and James Baxter-Gilbert^1,*

¹WildWork, 48351 State Route 255, Sardis, OH 43946. ²WildWork, 400 North Jefferson Street #75, Wickenburg, AZ 85390. ³Appalachian Wildlife Research Institute, PO Box 396, Athens, OH, 45701. *Corresponding authors.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 32, Issue 3 (2025): N39–N45

First published early online: 30 July 2025

Abstract
Parental care can be seen across a wide variety of taxa, including arachnids, where varying degrees of maternal investment into offspring care can be seen. While some forms of maternal care, like egg-sac guarding, carrying young, and defending against predators, are common in spiders, more intensive behavior, like the direct provisioning of energetic resources to offspring, is less commonly observed. Provisioning behavior has been recorded in ~0.001% of spider species to date, half of which are in the Family Theridiidae. Here, we present a set of observations for another theridiid spider, Enoplognatha ovata (Candy-striped Spider), engaged in provisioning behavior. Our captive observations of maternal behavior recorded 3 instances of prey items being captured and presented to young spiderlings by the mother, who, herself, did not appear to partake in feeding. We discuss potential drivers of this behavior and how it may play a role within the invasion success of this species in North America.

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