8 replies to this topic

[BMM]

So today I spotted an interesting looking ant in my backyard and scooped it up for identification. To my surprise, it was quite capable of hovering in mid air, or at least that's what it looked like. Turns out that I caught an ant mimic spider and it had spun a little web inside the vial. Here's a pic of it after a few minutes in the fridge.

 

 

Its disguise is extremely convincing. It has what looks like a petiole and even holds its front two legs up in the right position to mimic antennae. I was aware these sort of spiders existed, but I didn't know we had any locally. It was an interesting find, so I thought I share in case anyone else ever spots one of these.

[Antking117]

OMG! I wonder if those are here in Nebraska! I think I saw one today in the forest while anting! Very cool, I chased it, but it ran into the brush to far.. sweet very sweet.

[Kevin]

We have tons of these around here, black and red ones.

[Reevak]

I had one of these a few days ago. I don't think it was the same species but it looked like a small queen and then it almost swung from a web and onto me. 

[Nathant2131]

I've seen these (or something similar to it) a few times.

[Evanthomas89]

Very cool! I'll have to keep a look out in my area! 

[cpman]

Awesome! Ant mimic spiders are really neat.

The only ones I've ever seen around here are fantastic mimics of Crematogaster laeviuscula -- they are almost the exact same size, the coloration is spot on, the abdomen is slightly heart shaped, and you find them in places similar to where you find workers.

The one thing it really misses is the broad heads of the workers.

[FeedTheAnts]

I've seen a lot of weird golden spiders that trick me every time into thinking it is formica dolosa, I don't think their ant mimic necessarily, but they certainly do a good job at it!

Edited by TennesseeAnts, June 26 2017 - 4:58 PM.

[Hikari]

Ugh...if I ever ran into one of these I'd probably freak. I can't handle spiders *shudders*. I like that when I'm ant hunting, they tend to run far, far away from me, and I am completely okay with that.