Posted on 10/13/2009 4:54:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Spiders deserve their reputation as bloodthirsty critters. Up until now, all 40,000 species known to science seemed to eat by sucking the juices out of insects and other prey. But researchers have come across a spider that is a vegetarian, and is apparently the first example of a plant-eating spider.
Two scientists, working independently in Costa Rica and Mexico, noticed that the neotropical jumping spider feeds on acacia leaf tips. These yummy leaf tips are primarily eaten by ants, which in turn defend the plants from predators. But the spider, known as Bagheera kiplingi, has developed a taste for the leaf tips, too. The spider does occasionally eat ant larvae, but most of its calories come from its high-fiber vegetarian diet, according to a report in the journal Current Biology.
He can have mine. Can’t stand the damn greenies (except for asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower).
A spider after my own heart!
you eat green cauliflower? :^)
I think it is called brocoflower or something.
Pretty good.
What makes a spider part of spiderkind?
If this newly discovered bug is a vegeterian- unlike all the members of the spider species, how is it a spider at all?
4 pairs of legs.
Usually 4 pairs of eyes although some species may have less
2 discernible body sections; the cephalothorax which contains the head fused with the thorax;
The abdomen which houses the internal organs
Spinnerets at the end of the abdomen, which are used for spinning silk threads used for a variety of purposes such as the construction of webs, snares and retreats in which to live or to wrap prey
Fangs (or chelicerae) used to deliver venom to kill prey, for defence, to capture and crush prey and to dig and excavate burrows 1 pair of sensory palps (often much larger in males) between the first pair of legs and the chelicerae, used for sperm transfer during the mating season, prey manipulation during feeding and detection of smells and vibrations
1 to 2 pairs of book-lungs on underside of abdomen
Maybe they’ll have rumbles and kill one another.
They make you think they're vegetarians. You drop your guard. Put down the flamethrower. Leave the neutron bug bomb on the shelf. Turn your back ... and it's too late.
Then it's all over but the screaming.
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