#arachnidae — Public Fediverse posts

🕷️ An international team of researchers, which included #MacquarieUniversity, have discovered a remarkable new spider species in the rainforest of north Queensland that spins an ingenious and powerful spring-actuated snare to catch a single species of ant – one ant at a time – in what they describe as “the ultimate specialisation”. Nicknamed the ballista spider after the ancient Roman weapon that used a spring to launch a bolt or stone, the small nocturnal spider has apparently evolved a unique web mechanism to trap only the highly territorial and aggressive green tree ant Oecophylla smaragdina.

✨Follow the link for more information on this story✨

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/meet-australias-ballista-spider-the-tiny-predator-that-builds-a-spring-loaded-trap-to-catch-a-single-ant-species

#science #ScienceNews #research #STEM #facts #knowledge #sciencefacts #spiders #ballistaspider #australianarachnids #arachnidae

she has work to do

She has work to do, establishing
Her anchor threads, her frame threads,
Even her bridge thread and all her radii,

Hub to be ready by dawn, herself resting --
All-powerful, so far as any lacewing can
See. Seeking out the ripest berries, she

Works not to eat drupelets, but entirely to
Offer them as bait to fruit flies and their ilk.
Right away along comes another
Killer, a ladybird beetle, seeking the berries

Too, and for the same reason. He's caught,
Offers resistance, is overwhelmed, rolled up,

Done. Whatever comes in, if protein, her
Ovum will accept. Death it is brings life.


-- shonin #poetry #acrostic #arachnidae

Enough with the Artificial Intelligence Aipocalypse!
Let's give Arachnid Invasion (Airborne Arm) a chance!

#GabrielTorch #BearBaitOfficial #Arachnidae #AI

https://youtu.be/jTHT6rSGT-M

Four Spot Orb Weaver, Araneus quadratus Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/7.1 1/320 iso: 800 Celakovice-Jirina, Czech Republic 9/24/2010 #Arachnidae #Spiders #Orbweavers #Invertebrates #grasslands

Cross Spider, Araneus diadematus Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/5 1/ 320 iso: 400 Celakovice-Jirina, Czech Republic 9/21/2010 #Arachnidae #Arachnids #spiders #orbweavers #Araneus #Macro #invertebrates #Invertebrates #Macro

Napoleon Spider, Synema globosum Canon 7D EFS 60 2.8 f/3.5 1/250 iso: 650 Srbsko, Czech Republic June 4 2023 #Spiders #Arachnidae Arachnids #predator #Crabspiders #macro #flower

Gorse Orb-weaver, Agalenatea redii Canon 7D EFS 60 2.8 f/6.3 1/250 iso: 160 Milovice, Czech Republic June 1, 2022 #Arachnidae #Araneae #Agalenatea #Spiders #orbweavers #macro #canon #canonphotography