Did You Know?
- As the name suggests, the Black-Footed Ant Spider is a spider that mimics ants
- The Black-Footed Ant Spider is a social animal and have been known to form communal nests consisting of hundreds of spiders (Tweet This)
- This particular species of jumping spider was only discovered in the year 2000 – Read the Journal Article Here
A Real Impersonator
You may be asking yourself why a scary spider needs to imitate a harmless ant? Well, in the animal kingdom the ant is known for being a ferocious, aggressive animal that usually travels in large gangs (not to mention how strong they are for their size). Therefore, many creatures will try to imitate them in order to dissuade predators from feasting on them. In my opinion, the Black-Footed Ant Spider is one of the best ant imitators out there.
Why is the Black-Footed Ant Spider the best Ant Imitator?
Not only do these unique spiders look like ants but they go the extra mile by acting like ants. Unlike other spiders, this particular species is known to live within a large community of interconnected silk-woven nests. As mentioned, these groups can consist of hundreds of spiders, however, when these spiders travel, they will usually just take a small posse with them. Apparently, even large communities of Ant Spiders have cliques and different social circles.
Benefits of Mimicking an Ant
The two main reasons the Black-Footed Ant Spider mimics ants are for defence and predatory reasons. These may sound conflicting but let me explain. First, the main predator for the Black-Footed Ant Spider would typically be other spiders; however, these other spiders don’t usually feast on ants. Again, the reasoning for this is the aggressive nature and potentially bad taste they leave in the mouths of the attackers. By doing such an amazing job mimicking an ant species, this spider avoided being hunted down by other spiders.
But, the Black-Footed Ant Spider takes it one step further and uses its disguise for evil. Yes, this species of jumping spider will use their disguise to raid the nests of other spiders. Usually, the eggs (and babies) of other spiders are protected in a nice silky-web, however, these “ants” are actually spiders so they have no problem navigating through the nest to feast on the young. And, since they look like harmless ants, they are usually able to slip by the protective parents without any issues. The real kicker of all this are the nests the Black-Footed Ant Spider are robbing are the same nests that belong to their would-be predators. I am not sure if this is just mean or incredibly clever but I guess all is fair in love and war!
