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Ants are considered a danger to many spiders, with very few species attempting to hunt them. Researcher, however have documented Euryopis umbilicata, commonly known as the Australian Ant-Slayer Spider or the Superb Ant-eater Spider, tackle the ant by leaping over the ant and lassoing it with silk. In particular, they have been seen successfully catching banded sugar ants twice their size.1
Up to 6 mm in size, the Superb Ant-eater Spider hides under the ark of Eucalyptus trees. They then emerge at nigjht and wait for unsuspecting ants. Once they have lassoed the ant, they then run the silk around the ant to immobilise it, before biting the ant and waiting for the spider venom to work.
This species of spider Euryopis umbilicata. are found in the east region of Australia, in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.2
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Theridiidae
- Genus: Euryopis
- Species: Euryopis umbilicate
Footnote & References
- This spider literally flips for its food, by Freda Kreier, 30 September 2022, ScienceNews, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/spider-flip-lasso-ant-biology-australia
- Webless spiders reverse bungee jump to catch prey, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2214006119
- Euryopis umbilicata L. Koch, 1872, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/8683d09c-2870-4263-9252-ebdc63cf8933
- Superb Ant-eater Spider (Euryopis umbilicata), iNaturalistAU, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/832240-Euryopis-umbilicata
SpidersIndex of Spider Images Spiders in Australia Spiders Index Araneidae — Orb Weavers Arkys Australian Huntsman Spider Barking Spider Black House Spider Carepalxis sp Celaenia sp Crab Spiders Deinopidae — Net-casting Spiders Dolomedes sp Dolophones sp Euryopis umbilicate (Superb Ant-eater Spider) Flower Spiders Hackled Orbweavers (Uloboridae) Herennia sp Jewel Spider Jumping Spider Long Jawed Spider (Tetragnatha sp) Lynx Spider (Oxyopes) Mangrovia albida Maratus Missulena occatoria (Red-headed Mouse Spider) Miturgidae Mopsus mormon Nicodamidae (Red and Black Spider) Nyssus coloripes (Orange-legged Swift Spider) Ogre-faced Net-casting Spider Poltys sp (Twig Spider) Redback Spider Scorpion-tailed Spider (Arachnura higginsi) Thomisidae Wolf Spider Tiger Spider (Trichonephila plumipes) White-spotted Swift Spider (Nyssus albopunctatus)