Sunday, February 23, 2014

Unusual Creature!

I was watching and scrutinizing all my hoyas last weekend. I studied all the growths and patterns of development and compared them to what i remember from two weeks ago. I am glad there are some progress, a few peduncles are promising to produce flowers. A few flower buds are already forming in some, and some umbels are already about to open the blooms. I unleashed some twining vines, clipped them to where they should be to have a semblance of order.

And then i found an unusaul creature. I was observing it thinking it is a big black ant. It is just almost one centimeter in length, from tip to tip of the body.  I immediately took some photos because it was an unusual ant. Later on at the house after transferring the shots to the computer, i suddenly realized it is really an "unusual ant" because it actually has four pairs of legs. Ants are insects, so they only have 3 pairs of legs. My creature has 4 pairs, therefore it is a spider! This is the most unusual spider i have seen, because the body is that of an ant, and the mandibles do not look like anything i have seen yet. Moreover, its lenght is almost the same as the length of its body! How so very incredible.


 Look at those strong 3 pairs of legs, it really looks like an ant. But there is another pair of leg in front, which acts like an antennae, that are extending forward.


I am lucky it didn't move away with my presence, with the macro lens almost touching it. I wonder if it saw itself on the lens and maybe it was so scared that it was frozen in place! Look at those eyes, it has a lot; a big pair in front, smaller pair beside it, and another small pair at the side almost at the back of the head. I wonder why it was provided with a lot of eyes around its head. And those mandibles, is that size really vital for it to live? I suddenly get so interested in learning about it.


At this angle we can see the relationships of the body parts. The very very slim waist makes it very similar to ants. The 4 pairs of legs very visible here, together with the eyes and that very unusual mandible almost longer than its head or its abdomen.

I tell you I am so engrossed with the photos but i only have 5 of them, only these 3 are more vivid. Then i posted it in the arachnophile group in FB asking the authorities for its identification. Lo and behold, it is called ant mimicking spiders, Myrmarachne sp. There's a lot of species of these genus, it is very difficult to point one species like this one. So I am already happy with that genus, that suffice for now! I learned a lot of information from this supposedly "ant", turning out to be a spider, a Myrmarachne species.


21 comments:

  1. That is truly fascinating - and your photos are fantastic! I love how the front pair of legs mimics antennae - and those jaws are so incredibly huge that it seems the spider would be unable to support their weight for long. Thanks for sharing this.

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  2. A fascinating creature! Haven´t seen it before! Gorgeous shots!!

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  3. Very interesting indeed. Great photos!

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  4. hah! you educate me each time i come here. didn't know the # of legs about ants and spiders. thanks.

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    1. Hahaha, i blame your grade school teacher for that! My niece and nephew already know that since they are 4 yrs old, of course because of me!

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  5. I love insect mimics. Mother Nature holds so many tiny surprises... Great photos Andrea.... Michelle

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  6. He is unusual looking. You got some amazing shots.

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  7. That is a weird looking one. Very scary!

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  8. Great shots and information! Never heard of this type spider.

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    1. Thanks for dropping by Janice, but i can't visit your post as it is not in your G+ site where your name opens!

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  9. That is an unusual spider! And what great shots you took.

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  10. Fantastic macro's. It's an amazing looking insect and certainly one I have never seen before in photos.

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  11. Superb photography – great shot of that spider!

    Great blog too -will be back soon to read through earlier posts.

    PS In an upcoming post I'll be"featuring" Andalucia's processional caterpillars (ugh!)

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  12. Really different! :) Great close up!

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  13. That face sure looks like a spider! Great macros!

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  14. That's just strange! Your photos are really detailed.

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  15. Wow--I've never seen anything like that ... unless you combine an ant and a spider, as you say. Great photos!

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  16. How amazing! Gorgeous photographs! I often discover animals on the photos of flowers that I didn´t see when I took the photograph. I wish you a good sunday!

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  17. I've never seen anything like it! Such tiny perfection! I wonder if the camouflage is to protect it from being attacked by ants or to help it catch ants?? Great pictures!

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