In a possible affront to its meat-eating relatives and all humans who have to put up with politically correct whining, one jumping spider prefers to be a vegetarian.
The eight-legged pussy vegetarian, called Bagheera kiplingi, lives in Central America, and is now considered a rarity among the world’s 40,000 or so spider species, most of which are strictly predators that feedg on insects and other animals. B. kiplingi is about the size of a person’s pinky nail, and dines on specialized leaf-tips of acacia shrubs. Essentially, the spider employs hunting strategies to get past guard ants that keep the acacias safe from other herbivores. In return, the ants get a comfy place to live — the plant’s hollow spines — and food in the form of acacia nectar and the shrub’s leaf-tips.
The Bagheera kiplingi spends its entire life on the acacia shrubs, and so must avoid the ants at all times. When hunting, they actively avoid the ants by changing targets when approached by a guard, and using silk droplines as retreat ladders. The spiders also nest primarily on the ends of older acacia leaves, spots the researchers found were least patrolled by ants.
The eight-legged The Bagheera kiplingi spends its entire life on the acacia shrubs, and so must avoid the ants at all times. When hunting, they actively avoid the ants by changing targets when approached by a guard, and using silk droplines as retreat ladders. The spiders also nest primarily on the ends of older acacia leaves, spots the researchers found were least patrolled by ants.
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