More than a pain in the neck

Since beetles are well defended against spiders by their tough exoskeletons, I was curious how Japanese beetles were falling victim to the candy stripe spiders.  However, each time I found a Japanese beetle and a candy stripe spider together, I had already missed the decisive moment.  Therefore, I was limited to reconstructing events by inspecting the aftermath of the beetle-spider encounters.

A Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) being eaten by a candy stripe spider (Enoplognatha ovata, ovata color morph).

While watching the spiders consume their prey, I noticed that they were exploiting a weakness in the beetles' defenses.  Like human armor, beetle exoskeletons are vulnerable at the joints.  In the pictures above and below, you can see that each spider has bitten between the beetle's head and its sternum (where the beetle's neck would be if it had one).  Though these spiders had already moved on to feeding, the same spot seems a likely target for the killing bite.

Another Japanese beetle being eaten by a candy stripe spider (Enoplognatha ovata, lineata color morph) in 2012.

Going back through some of my other photographs of the candy stripe spiders, I found that the strategy of "going for the throat" also appears to be effective with other difficult types of prey, such as wasps.

A female candy stripe spider (Enoplognatha ovata, redimita color morph) with a wasp.