Spider-Ant
Spider-Ant
Does whatever a spider can
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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Except jump
Cause it would be sus
Among ants be like 'Did Carl just casually jump 20 stories high like it was nothing??'
Can he jump from a branch?
No he can't, he is an ant
Look out, he is a Spider-Ant!
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It's lucky for them ants can't count. "...seven, eight legs?? Wait a minute!"
The skinwalkers are among us
imagine if a species of lemur evolved to broadly look like us, but still with lemur faces and stuff
that's basically what's happening for ants, terrifying
I don't think ants see very well, so it'd prob be more like lemurs that look exactly like us, but smell like ozone and old grease.
Note to self - automotive mechanics may be lemurs, High voltage electricians certainly are
Bottom left is definitely a spider. I count 8 legs and can see the distinct segmentation of a spider body. Though, really, just dat fat ass gives it away.
... arent they all spiders?
(Besides the leggies & butts, eyes are also an ez clue.)
I think so, too. They all seem to have eight legs, more than two eyes, which don't look like compound eyes, a cephalothorax/two body segments rather than three, a lack of antennae, etc. It would probably be easier to tell looking at them head-on so we could see their chelicerae.
Edit: turns out the pedipalps are more of a giveaway.
Man, I wish spiders didn't creep me out so much. They're very cool, but my ancient lizard brain isn't having it.
Omg, at least it's alive in your pic, ty <3.
And yes, we are hardwired for some memetics about spider-looking things, but being amazed by them, understanding them biologically, & perhaps a bit of co-living (about as close to befriending them without them being "a pet" & still independent - you know, just seeing & saying hi to Clara every day, watching the life of a begin with ups & downs) may adapt how the association network in your brainhole is used.
(Just guessing.)
No problem!
That's very accurate. I don't mind handling tarantulas or furry jumping spiders, but shiny spiders of any kind creep me out. Bonus point for terror if there's webbing involved. Hobo spiders are probably the worst. They're so fast and aggressive. I still catch them and take them outside, but it still feels awful. The only exception to the mercy rule is the shower. Shower spiders go down the drain immediately.
Poor clean spiders.
But I get what you are saying, it makes some intuitive sense.
In my case I think I've (as a kid) narrowed down the technical memetic part mostly to the very centre-point where the 8 lines end, so basically my brain recognising the legs (starting from the end of the legs) & then seeing how they "end" up in one narrow place (so, relatively to spider leg size, if the sternum looking from the bottom or the end part of prosoma from the top is "too tightly together" or even too perfectly round/octagonal shaped).
(And spiders differ very much in that regard, even the same one in relation to how well fed it is :D.)
Why? Idk, but doesn't feel learned.
(It's still there, but not the default/I have to think about it more actively.)
That I remember (again, as a kid) I was only triggered (differently than described above) by one "too smooth" species, the poor, harmless, misjudged beneficial, cute (well, as all spiders) wasp spiders.
I didn't harm them but it's a sad memory for me bcs the smol town (or the whole valley?) I grew up in basically doesn't have them anymore. Bcs we hate flowers/biodiversity, but love grass & pesticides I guess. I should be glad they were even still around for me to experience them.
(No pics bcs you mentioned you only like unshaven butts & legs.)
For me, it was the fireflies. I grew up in suburbs at the edge of a city, where the rural land started, just about as far as city water and sewer reached. It grew pretty quickly, and by the time I turned 18, I was about as close to the city center as I was to the outskirts. In that process, every summer, there were fewer and fewer of them until one year they were just gone. I was busy, so I didn't think much of it at the time, but looking back, I regret not making an attempt to make a habitat for them in our garden.
That's so sad.
It's hard to argue how we aren't an infestation. The reach & environmental effects of humans per individual is outstanding even without factoring the explosive growth (globally only a few 100k or a few millions for 4 billion years, then a billon in a single millennia, then 9 billon in just 200 years).
Solitary unconnected gardens can't help, it would barely be possible to sustain us normally if we all were extremely and unambiguously (and with much more knowledge) aware of & actively dedicating our lives to diminish environmental impacts.
But also our overall lives would be better. Imagine forest cities with tall buildings (without critter loss, so maybe glass covered streets?), clean every, waste treatment & reuse, no "waste", etc.
If it helps, some models are showing it level off. If we advance climate science and use it to inform policy, we might be able to slowly contract our population while avoiding a "Children of Men" style collapse. I assume it would take a few thousand years to reach an equilibrium that allows us to maintain a habitable environment while still developing space-faring technology. The bonus is that the time it would take might change our practices into something a little more worthy of spreading to other planets if that ever becomes possible. I think with our current energy and pollution situation, we've guaranteed ourselves future hardships for many generations, but I don't think it's hopeless yet.
Regardless, other life has done similar stuff before. It resulted in mass extinction, but life moved on in some form. I hope the earth will be great with us in it, but if not, it will probably be fine without us, too.
Yeah, 400 million years. We are doing it in centuries.
We are already into the mass extinction event caused by humans, the hardship for biodiversity is measured in millions of years in event we give nature back the space immediately (ie we disappear).
And three are no plans anywhere about that.
The hardship for humans seems irrelevant in comparison, if we have a war & kill 4 billon people that is still a 50 year setback (1975).
Also even if human population is starting to level (geopolitical predictionds still point to 12bn, it's more about the economy & living status than food supply), we will each year consume more of everything, space/surface included.
I don't even see us reaching our max destructiveness on earth's species in the next 100+ years.
Times will get a little tougher for next human gens & with our entitlement we will just destroy more nature.
Nothing in our past or present points to anything other than that.
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Get a pet jumping spider. They don't eat much, don't need a large enclosure, you can handle them, and their venom is not significant to humans (they don't really bite anyway).
My partner has two of them on her desk, and catching them exploring or sunning themselves is a little happiness boost every time.
Here is one chilling out.
Thanks for the suggestion. I just might do that. They're very cute.
Fair warning, they have the same problem as rats... They live just long enough for you to get really attached to them. Lifespans are about 1 year for males, and up to 3 for females.
But, if you like them, you can always get a tarantula, which can live much longer.
Hmm. I do think I'd make a good, unusually benevolent, eldrich god. On the other hand, I still miss my beta fish that died 5 years ago. No telling how I'd react to the rise and fall of a spider family line, dozens of generations in length.
Tarantulas are cool, but I'd worry about dropping it. I know they typically don't bite, and that their bites aren't dangerous. Still, I don't know if I could relate to it positively after that. It's not rational. I've gotten mild dog bites and cat scratches from pets playing too rough, and those are much more dangerous. Tarantulas still pas the cuteness test, but I think the spider bias affects them more than jumping spiders.
I don't think I've ever been uncomfortable having a jumping spider on me unexpectedly. It's fun to watch them hunt. Watching the retinas in their big eyes move to track things is fun. It makes them seem more like adorable cartoon characters.
I know they typically don’t bite, and that their bites aren’t dangerous.
Fair warning, they may not be "dangerous", but from the tarantula breeders I've talked to, some can "pack a whallop" which to me means painful as all fuck.
Good to know. I definitely don't want that. I should just go see a migration and enjoy them from a safe distance.
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They are all spiders, but if it hadn't said they were all spiders I could have still just looked at that guy with little scrutiny and went "wait a minute..." He looks the least ant-like.
Oh, yeah, true - but I don't know what species of ants it's mimicking. Perhaps that's just how they look too & now we are body-shaming ants for looking too spidery ('sup, you 6-legged no-neck with that thicc ass') :D.
It seems like it's Myrmarachne maxillosa, very snooty thing.
It's prob mimicking a puppy or something.
Here is one desperately trying to toucha the butt of another:
As for who they are copypastaing:
It probably mimics the Common Spiny Ants of the genus Polyharchis.
Yeah, these ants indeed have a dump truck:
(And these ~~horny~~ spiny ants do come in way more spinier flavours, pretty metal.)
It's prob mimicking a puppy or something.
Why would you put that uncensored comment out here for us to see? Now I'm going to have nightmares as if directed by John Capenter about spiders that look exactly like puppies to humans until they attack.
They are most dangerous on Halloween, by the way:
Stay vigilant. Do not become a statisic.
Why would you put that uncensored comment out here for us to see? Now I'm going to have nightmares as if directed by John Capenter about spiders that look exactly like puppies to humans until they attack.
Ohhhh, that's a really cool & outstanding thought!
(With a satisfying explanation for the biological size limits ofc. It can just be "magic", idk, the idea is too nice to be cockblocked by a plot hole.)
It would be even funnier if the arachnids lost some original traits in favour of mimicry & their new environments (like the jumping spoders in this post lost the jumping part for their ant masquerade).
Not the jumping, but like the way of life - they just figured dogs have it too good when bonded to nice humans so some jumping-dog spiders just decide they want to be pets and they cuddle & fetch their entire lives (sure the humans might find it suspect how many live snacks they have to feed their pupper, or how no smol animals seem to hang around the house, but that's not that different to being owned by a cat).
Also nothing beats the feeling of a happy jumping-dog spider jump-hugging you when you get home with all its weight.
(There is also the funny looks the first time you take your dog to the vet. Or how it builds it own beds out of the nicest silky material you've ever seen. Or how you've seen it jump from the ground after a squirrel ... that was on the very top of a very tall three.)
Also jumping-dog spiders - kings of puppy-eyes look!
The mammal head tilt still needs some (evolutionary) work tho:
- 'Does it bite?'
- 'Almost never, but it will cocoon people that it dislikes.'
I saw in a documental a snake which fools ants, but not to eat these, but to use these as bait for fooling lizards, which are the real prey for the snake.
- The snake buried itself in the sand, leaving only the tail point, imitating a tan of grass
- This attracts the ant
- This in turn attracts the lizard who wants to eat the ant
- End of the lizard
Evolution games
Jumping spiders are anywayvery smart for catching their prey, even without the need to disguise their aspect, analyzing the situation and adjust their strategy.
Evolution to spiders: We've decided to combine your head and thorax.
Some jumping spiders: Nah
Lmao, giraffe spiders!
Imagine trying to hide an entire pair of legs when you're hanging out with ants
"ohoho no! these aren't legs, they're pedipalps! mmm, pedipalps to help me eat!"
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I could be violet sky
The crab of the insect world?
Arthropods, man. They have two ideals and everything goes toward them.
impossible arthropod beauty standards need to be stopped!
That gave me a good chortle. Thanks for making my dumb thought funnier 😊
Are ants so visual? I guess so, or there wouldn't be enough advantage for these guys to develop. I thought they went purely by sensing pheromones.
Maybe it isn't just fooling ants?
Don't know the advantage to fooling everything else but they are convincing. Worked in a warehouse that had a bunch of the red ones one summer. Everybody thought there was an ant problem but they seemed off to me. Firstly, they were never in groups, you'd only find lone ones wandering. Secondly, they walked like ants but held their "antennae" strangely. Lastly, when knocking one off a box I discovered they have a tether thread.
Ants are rarely visual, but I’m also struggling to figure out which predator this is meant to dissuade.
The Wikipedia page on ant mimicry is full of fun facts, but the relevant bits:
Jumping spiders in the genus Myrmarachne are Batesian mimics
Batesian mimics lack strong defences of their own, and make use of their resemblance to a well-defended model, in this case ants, to avoid being attacked by their predators.
Studies on this genus have revealed that the major selection force is the avoidance of ants by predators such as spider wasps and other larger jumping spiders.
But also (not specific to Myrmarachne):
Ant mimics can be myrmecophilous, with the mimics and their ant models living commensally together. In the case of ants, the mimic is an inquiline in the ants' nest. Such mimics may in addition be Batesian or aggressive (predator) mimics. To overcome ants' powerful defences, mimics may imitate ants chemically with ant-like pheromones, visually, or by imitating an ant's surface microstructure to defeat the ants' tactile inspections.
Thats actually wild, they can smell like ants and are convincing enough to pass a physical ant patdown. Crazy.
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Consider: the goal isn’t for predators to be fooled, but prey.
Lots of things consider ants totally harmless, like aphids that gets farmed and stuff. Perhaps it’s an adaptation to throw those things off.
Aphids are borderline mindless, their chief strategy is simply breeding more aphids. I’ve gleefully spectated ladybugs devouring dozens of aphids, and not a single one responded in any way. Tiny dead idiots.
You might be on the right track, but I’m still struggling.
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My ADHD brain counting all the legs on these mfers for the past five minutes...
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