“Vegetarian” spider lives in Costa Rican forests
- by crv.staff
- 10.11.09
- 9:00 AM UTC
- Filed in Costa Rica
Source: Visit Costa Rica
The first “vegetarian” spider known to the world lives in the forests of Costa Rica. This fact was revealed in a study by US biologists from Villanova University and Brandeis University in the newest edition of the periodical, Current Biology.
According to scientists Christopher Meehan and Eric Olsen, it is an unusual jumping spider that feeds only on wild bush leaves.
Of the 40,000 spider species known today, 39,999 of them feed on insects smaller than them and not on plants. Given the name Bagheera kiplingi, the new species has a reddish color and is a little less than 5 centimeters in length.
According to researchers, this species lives here, in Mexico, and South America and feeds specifically on plant leaves called acacias, especially those where ants also feed.
The spiders rob the food from the ants that protect the plant against invaders.
There are other interesting things about the “vegetarian” spider. For example, it doesn’t eat insects, so it has no need to spin a web to trap its prey. This allows them to fully concentrate their energy on building homes for their families or nests that the mothers use to raise their young.
If that weren’t enough, scientists have also found out that the females of this species have the habit of eating their mates after the act of love-making.
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