Ant jumping spider

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Ant jumping spider
male

male

Systematics
Class : Arachnids (arachnida)
Order : Spiders (Araneae)
Subordination : Real spiders (Araneomorphae)
Family : Jumping spiders (Salticidae)
Genre : Myrmarachne
Type : Ant jumping spider
Scientific name
Myrmarachne formicaria
( De Geer , 1778)

The ant jumping spider ( Myrmarachne formicaria ) is a spider from the jumping spider family (Salticidae).

The Arachnological Society named the ant jumping spider Spider of the Year 2019.

features

The 5 to 6.5 millimeter long spider gets its name from its relatively close resemblance to an ant . Among other things, it differs from ants because of its eight legs, which are typical of spiders, and their body, which is divided into only two segments (front body and rear body). The elongated, slender body is characterized by a narrowing to a kind of stem between the two segments ("wasp waist"). The characteristics also include that the front body (prosoma) suddenly loses height after the last row of eyes and is then no longer black, but red-brown. This simulates a subdivision into the insect and thus ant-typical three segments (head, thorax and abdomen). The back of the body is brown in the front half and black in the back half. The ant jumping spider only walks on three pairs of legs, the foremost pair of legs is lifted into the air like a feeler. In the females, the end members of the pedipalp are also triangular and flattened, which simulates the jaw of an ant, but in the male the pedipalp are normally built. The structure of the chelicerae is also part of the sexual dimorphism : in females they are black, directed forward, flattened, characterized by a metallic sheen, curved, serrated in the middle and extremely enlarged. The chelicerae of the males become longer than the front, higher part of the front body and almost as long as the entire upper body.

Occurrence

The species, which is native to Central Europe , especially in the southern parts, lives in a wide range of habitats ; they range from damp banks, wet meadows and orchards to dry lawns and loess walls. The preferred places to stay are sunny grassy slopes. To the east it spreads over Siberia to China and Japan.

Way of life

Male spider with prey

Mature animals can be found all year round. The males do not fold their huge chelicerae downwards, but inwards. They use them for commentary fights (ritualized fights in which no combatant is harmed by the actual fighting) with other males and for courtship . Each female spider only lays two to three eggs. Like all jumping spiders, the ant jumping spider feeds on small animals that it overwhelms when jumping. When the weather is unfavorable, the ant spiders hide in a rolled-up leaf lined with web. The adult animals often overwinter in snail shells, not infrequently several in one. It is believed that the housing is also used as a shelter in summer.

Mimicking ants ( mimicry ) protects them from predators, as only a few specialized hunters use ants primarily as a source of food. They even often live with ants. Mimicry probably greatly increases the chances of survival, because the reproductive rate of the animals is rather low.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Distribution map of the British Arachnological Society
  2. ^ Myrmarachne formicaria - Atlas of the European Arachnids

literature

  • Heiko Bellmann : Cosmos Atlas Arachnids of Europe. = Arachnids of Europe. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-440-07025-5 (3rd edition, special edition, ibid 2006, ISBN 3-440-10746-9 ).
  • Dick Jones: The Cosmos Spider Guide. Over 350 Central European Spider species in color. 4th edition. Franckh, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-440-06141-8 .
  • Barbara Baehr, Martin Baehr: Which spider is that? Little spider science for everyone. Franckh, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-440-05798-4 .

Web links

Commons : Ant jumping spider ( Myrmarachne formicaria )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Myrmarachne formicaria in the World Spider Catalog