A parasitic wasp forces its host to weave a special web for its own ends. On the evening that it will kill its orb-weaving spider host, the larva of the ichneumonid wasp Hymenoepimecis sp. induces ...

That flashy female was in fact another male firefly, himself trapped in the web, and the spider may have manipulated his light beacon to lure you in. This high-stakes drama plays out nightly in ...

Named Hercules, the spider might not sound very big - at just 7.9cm (3.1 inches) from foot to foot - but when compared to other male Sydney funnel-web spiders, he's massive.