Video Shows Australian Wasp Dragging Huntsman Spider Along Ground

Video footage has emerged showing a wasp dragging a huge huntsman spider at a backyard in, where else, Australia.

The short clip shows the determined wasp hauling the spider across concrete and into some grass in a suburb of Adelaide, reports Yahoo 7.

The tussle was spotted by Jace Watkins, who ran inside to fetch his camera to film the grisly incident. "We were playing out in the backyard and the huntsman fell from the roof...and that's when we saw the wasp come down and it started dragging it," Watkins said.

Watkins added that the incident was "pretty cool" despite him having a phobia of spiders and his children "screaming" when they saw it.

During the clip, a voice can be heard warning the children "come away boys, don't you dare touch it."

Andrew Trevor-Jones, a visitor services officer at the Australian Museum, explained that the huntsman spider is not putting up much of a fight as it has been paralyzed by the wasp with its sting. The wasp is moving the spider so it can use its body as a sort of living incubator in which to store its eggs.

"She builds a nest around it or puts it in a nest that she's built earlier and she'll lay eggs inside it," Trevor-Jones said. "Then she'll seal up the nest and go on her way.

"And then the eggs will hatch and the larvae will eat the spider from the inside."

Although near the end of the clip the wasp flies away, Trevor-Jones believes this was probably because it wanted to get away from Watkins as he filmed it, and will no doubt return to the paralyzed spider.

"It's not going to give up that spider after its gone to all that trouble," he explained.

As if the whole egg-laying process wasn't terrifying enough, Trevor-Jones adds the wasps have other tactics if they are struggling to move their victim around. "Sometimes you'll see them rip the legs off if they're having trouble dragging it," he told Yahoo 7.