Yesterday I was lucky enough to encounter this specimen of U. glomosus as it pounced on an insect that had just gotten stuck in its web. I started snapping pictures, and recorded a video. This is a cropped version of that video. It clearly shows the reason I was so intrigued: the black object that the specimen was somehow carrying as it wrapped its prey.
These pictures show the object, and the wrapping process, more clearly. After studying them, I came to the conclusion that the black bundle was not somehow slung behind the caphalothorax, as I originally thought. I think she's holding it in her chelicerae and pedipalps.
I took these shots about five minutes later. Note that the new prey, on the far right, is fully wrapped, and the specimen is back in her warren, still holding the black bundle.
Here's a closeup of a bundle from a previous catch...
...and here's a closeup of the specimen with her bundle. What do you think it is? My best guess is that it's the bundled remains of an ant that she's still digesting.
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