Commensal spiders are not the name of any one type of spider. Instead it's a term to describe the fact that they get their food from other spiders. These spiders are scavengers.

The spider in the photo above was crawling in a large orb web and the thing that made me notice it was that it looked mighty uncomfortable, like it didn't belong. For starters, it appeared to be working hard not to get caught in the web. Also the orb web was way too big for this little spider. It was fumbling along, picking at little trapped insects and remnants. You can see those food items in the photo.

It didn't take long to find the true owner of the web. That's it in the photo at the top of this page.

Now I'm not saying that every web has commensal spiders helping themselves to leftovers. After all this was the first one I've seen. But I love the way how things often don't get wasted in nature.

Do things always go so easily for the owner of the web? Of course not. Some spiders that hang around other spiders' webs do so because they like to eat the other spider, not its leftovers. Life can be pretty tough for spiders