Yesterday evening, just as we were sitting down to dinner on the back deck I noticed a dead bee hanging from one of the florettes of a nearby elephant garlic plant (Allium ampeloprasum). At first glance it appeared that the unfortunate lass had somehow managed to catch her stinger in the florette itself.
Cause of death based on this assumption would have to be chalked up to starvation or exposure. That seemed highly unlikely to me, however, and a closer inspection revealed that the corpse was actually lashed in place with a number of extremely fine threads.
The prime suspect, a well known serial killer, was ultimately discovered, lurking in her hiding place deep among the florettes on the the far side of the bloom.
A white crab spider (family Thomisidae). Case closed.
