Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Gelanor pirate spider

Gelanor sp.

Description:

The family Mimetidae, commonly called pirate spiders, are spiders which typically feed on other spiders. The family Mimetidae contains roughly 200 species divided among 12 genera, of which Mimetus and Ero are the most common. Mimetids are usually yellow and brown and are usually 3 to 7 mm long. Mimetids can be recognized by the rows of spine-like hairs on their long front legs; the rows consist of a long spine, followed by a series of progressively shorter ones. Mimetidae usually hunt by picking at the strands on their prey's web to simulate the movements of either a trapped insect or a potential mate. When their prey comes to investigate, they are instead captured and eaten. Some mimetids have been observed to feed on insects as well. The spider-feeding habit presents problems in mating, and little is known about how the males court females to avoid being eaten. However, some male mimetids in the genus Gelanor, found in South America, have enormously long appendages which they use to inseminate females. (Wikipedia)

Notes:

Photo #2 shows the mating appendages.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

6 Comments

rutasandinas
rutasandinas 11 years ago

Espectacular::serán los pedipalpos ??

Sergio Monteiro
Sergio Monteiro 11 years ago

Thank you Yasser, Karen, Juan and Aaron.

Yasser
Yasser 11 years ago

Gorgeous! What a cool spider.

KarenL
KarenL 11 years ago

Awesome!

Juan DiTrani
Juan DiTrani 11 years ago

Nice!

Aaron_G
Aaron_G 11 years ago

Oh, man... the common name is cool and the spider itself is even better! Great find, Sergio.

Sergio Monteiro
Spotted by
Sergio Monteiro

Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

Spotted on Oct 8, 2012
Submitted on Oct 9, 2012

Related Spottings

Pirate spider Pirate Spider Pirate Spider Pirate spider

Nearby Spottings

Unidentified insect eggs Katydid Gonodonta moth Owl Butterfly
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team