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Jaime Culebras's Image
Jaime trekked a long distance to this stream in the hope of finding glass frogs. Instead, he found a wandering spider devouring glass frog eggs. Jaime caught the spider as it grasped the thin jelly coating between its fangs, steadying an egg with its palps – mouthparts that help with sensing and feeding.
Wandering spiders are usually sit-and-wait predators, pouncing on a wide range of insects and small vertebrates before injecting them with digestive juices and sucking in the liquefied prey. But this clutch of glass frog eggs would have been an irresistibly easy meal.
Behind the lens
Jaime Culebras
Spain
Jaime has a bachelor’s in biology, an MSc in environmental education and an MSc in biodiversity and conservation of tropical areas. He’s been living in Ecuador for more than nine years, where he works as a reptile and amphibian researcher and nature photographer. Jaime has won numerous photography and conservation awards.
Image details
- Sony ILCE-7M3
- Canon 65mm f2.8 lens
- 1/100 sec at f16 • ISO 640 • Yongnuo flash + trigger • Manfrotto tripod
- Manduriacu Reserve, Imbabura, Ecuador
Copyright in WPY competition photographs remains the property of the respective photographers. You may not copy, share, reproduce or republish the photographs except as expressly permitted by copyright law. For media image usage enquiries, please contact us.
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