It's a spider eat spider world
So I was on lying down on my Roman mat in Freshwater NP just north of Brisbane Qld Australia. There's a lot of life on the forest floor here and many different species of ant mimicking spiders from different spider families. Ant mimics are a particular favourite of mine.
I was waiting for something interesting to come past in front of the camera. There was lots of Iridomyrmex sp. dashing about in the noon day heat. It took a while but then I noticed a small Gea theridiodes, like a tiny Argiope, building a web among the blades of grass. Nice to watch and photograph its busy work. Then takes up the classic X-shaped pose.
However it was not just me who noticed the spider take up its position. So did an ant-mimicking Myrmarachne erythrocephala.
It made a bee-line for the Argiope and I thought, is this spider going to blunder into the Gea's web then suddenly, BAM, it was all over.
The ant-mimic had a slightly struggling lunch. In only a few tens of seconds was dragging the Gea's lifeless body around looking for a quiet place to consume her. Such is life on the forest floor.
Comments
Love this! Awesome photos.....thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing! I truly enjoyed the story and pictures!
Tremendously interesting journal post. Really enjoyed living vicariously through this experience! :)
Great series of photos and an interesting story. I'm heading out west next week and plan to spend a bit of time lying on the ground waiting for something like this... :)
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