 Members of the genus Portia have hunting tactics as versatile and adaptable as a lion 's . All members of Portia have instinctive tactics for their most common prey , but can improvise by trial and error against unfamiliar prey or in unfamiliar situations , and then remember the new approach . They can also make detours to find the best attack angle against dangerous prey , even when the best detour takes it out of visual contact with the prey , and sometimes the planned route leads to abseiling down a silk thread and biting the prey from behind . Such detours may take up to an hour , and it usually picks the best route even if it needs to walk past an incorrect route . : 422 If a Portia spider makes a mistake while hunting another spider , it may itself be killed . 
