Spider disguised as an anthill

2004/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia

Anteaters that inhabit the colonies of ants adopt, in general, the appearance, smell and behavior of ants. But this spider can further improve camouflage.

It only feeds on a certain type of tropical ants. These ants build their homes by pasting their leaves with the silk of the larvae, which are the ones that eat the spider. During the research, they discover that feeding with the larvae of a given anteater, acquires a characteristic smell.

When they are wild, the spider spends all his life in a single anteater. There, somehow, he gets the workers to give him the larvae because they think it is an ant.

Some researchers believe that it will now be necessary to clarify whether that ability to take the smallest odour particularities is a consequence of adaptation or diet.