Life can be a risky proposition when you are relatively low on the food chain, like a damselfly. Some larger insects may hunt you down while you are flying—see my recent post called Predator that shows an Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly consuming a damselfly. Other creatures may try to trap you and then immobilize you.
Several times this past week during visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I have encountered Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spiders (Argiope aurantia) that had captured a damselfly. I did not see the actual capture, but the spider in the first photo was in the process of wrapping up the damselfly when I spotted.
Spiders can produce variety of types of silk. In cases like this, the silk (known as aciniform silk) comes out in sheets that look like a gauze bandage and the spider spins around the prey as it wraps it up. If you want to get a better look at how the spider emits these sheets of silk, check out a 2014 posting called Wrapping up a meal. If you have every wrapped presents at Christmas time, you know how difficult it is to wrap an irregularly shaped object. The spider has done an amazing job in making a compact package of the long skinny body and wings of the hapless damselfly—I encourage you to click on the image to see the details of the trapped damselfly.
In the case of the second photo, the spider was content to do a looser wrap, which lets us see the damselfly a little better. I think this damselfly and the one in the first photo are Big Bluets (Enallagma durum), though it is difficult to be certain of the identification.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
We have seen quite a few preying mantis here in the end of summer garden. One deposing a monarch. What happens in the garden stays in the garden.
All creatures have to eat. Folks feel sympathy for a butterfly, but don’t feel bad for the fish if I photograph a Great Blue Heron swallowing a fish. I am always intrigued by praying mantises, though I don’t get to see them very often.
Fascinating and beautiful.
Very nice images Mike!
Wonderful photos, Mike! Lots of spiders around here now autumn is kicking in.
Nice captures of this part of the cycle of life, Mike! Your second image really shows off the damselfly’s colors, and I wonder if other insects would be tempted by this ready-to-eat meal?
Thanks, Ellen. I can’t remember for sure, but I think the spider was nearby and this wrapped- up damselfly was in part of a larger web. Other insects might get caught in the web if they tried to snag the “easy” meal.