Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Vegetarian Spider Described

Posted by kdawson on from the lacto-ovo dept.

Smivs writes with word on a spider, Bagheera kiplingi, that dines almost exclusively on plants. "The recently described species of jumping spider, discovered by researchers from Villanova and Brandeis Universities, dines on the protein rich tips of acacias, the thorny shrubs found in much of Central America. ... The species of acacia... favored by the Bagheera kiplingi has protein-rich leaf tips and nutritious sap to reward its [symbiotic ant] protectors. ... The Bagheera kiplingi has essentially evolved to steal from the mouths of the ants. These agile, inquisitive jumping spiders can leap up to 50 times their own body lengths... Competition for prey in the spider world is fierce. The Bagheera kiplingi's ancestors took the reflexes evolved for hunting and adapted into a creature that uses them for ant evasion."

6 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Semi-Vegetarian by lyinhart · · Score: 5, Informative

    From TFA: "The truth is, this spider isn’t a complete vegetarian – more of a flexitarian: it still snacks on the occasional ant attacker or ant larvae." So it's kind of like those people who say they're vegetarian, but "eat a little fish" or "a little beef."

    I'm still waiting for PETA to release some propaganda relating to this story...

    --
    Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
  2. Well, plenty of arachnids are vegetarians. by Rei · · Score: 5, Informative

    For example, spider mites. Infestations of them are frustratingly difficult to get rid of. They're so tiny that it stretches the bounds of human vision to spot them -- although their webbing is generally easily visible when infestations are bad. Their mouthpieces are designed to cut open individual plant cells. Since they're not insects, many conventional insecticides don't work on them -- for example, acetamiprid.

    Of course, then there are the predatory mites that eat the spider mites...

    --
    "I'm GOD! Yapple Dapple!" -- God, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
    1. Re:Well, plenty of arachnids are vegetarians. by Rei · · Score: 5, Informative

      To protect the colony from predators.

      --
      "I'm GOD! Yapple Dapple!" -- God, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
    2. Re:Well, plenty of arachnids are vegetarians. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Their webs are for energy production only. They are peaceful spiders. Really.

    3. Re:Well, plenty of arachnids are vegetarians. by ignavus · · Score: 5, Funny

      If they are vegetarians, why do they make webs?

      So they can have websites?

      --
      I am anarch of all I survey.
  3. Keep Reading... by swanzilla · · Score: 5, Funny
    FTA:

    Plesiometa Argyra is a fairly common fly and mosquito catching spider in Costa Rica. Every day of its life it weaves a flimsy circular web to catch its prey - unless it gets stung by a Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga wasp. That’s where this spider’s life gets, well, very interesting. The wasp sting briefly paralyzes the spider and eventually turns it into a zombie.

    Unfortunately, one must read about a boring vegetarian spider to find out that there exists something as mind-blowing as a zombie spider

    --
    0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)