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Project Noah Nature School
"Jumping spiders that imitate ants apparently feed on them, using their disguise to creep up and launch a lightning fast attack on their unsuspecting victims. The disguise also saves them from spider-hunting wasps that seek out spiders, sting them and take the paralysed body back to feed their young. Because ants are so common, it makes sense to imitate them." http://www.runwildtv.com/snippets/ant-mi... See also the photo of a black ant-mimicking jumping spider there.
Spotted on variegated croton (Codiaeum variegatum) in a large semi-urban yard & garden adjacent to a disturbed remnant patch of forest.
"Ant mimicry is mimicry of ants by other organisms. Ants are abundant all over the world, and predators that rely on vision to identify their prey such as birds and wasps normally avoid them, either because they are unpalatable, or aggressive. Thus some other arthropods mimic ants to escape predation (protective mimicry). Conversely, some species (e.g. Zodariidae spiders) use their anatomical and behavioral ant mimicry to hunt ants (aggressive mimicry). Other cases are also known. The term myrmecomorphy or "myrmecomorphous" is also used to describe ant mimicry or an organism that uses ant mimicry." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_mimicry... These were spotted in the same area previously http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/107... I wonder if these are the species being mimicked.
Spotted on May 8, 2012
Submitted on May 8, 2012
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