Scientists from the CONICET of Mendoza made a striking discovery in the world of insects. A spider that travels on ants. It is a species that uses the smallest ants as a means of transportation.
The unusual specimen was found in the Ñacuñán Biosphere Reserve in Santa Rosa.
Gabriel Pompozzi is the lead researcher on the project. He belongs to the Entomology Laboratory of the Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA), part of CONICET and UNCuyo.
The spider is an Attacobius Nigripes and its activity of riding on an ant revealed, for the first time, its association with leafcutter ants.
### The spider that travels on ants: what the species is like
According to the explanation, this strategy of riding on an ant is scientifically known as phoresy. “This very particular way of life makes this spider extremely difficult to locate, as it lives inside ant nests,” they explained from the organization.
“For many years, studies have been carried out to learn about the spiders that inhabit the Ñacuñán Reserve,” Pompozzi recounted.
“Every time we go, new things appear, and in this case, we found a species that had not been reported in the province and had very few records in the country, even in Latin America,” he added.
“The species we found in Mendoza is the southernmost record, not only of the species but of the genus called Attacobius. We found it by chance in Ñacuñán,” he said about the discovery.
In that regard, he mentioned that the team was studying the species of spider called myrmecophagous, which feeds exclusively on ants. “Following this spider in an ant nest, I found one that was carrying another spider on top, and that’s when I realized it was of this species,” the scientist expressed.
### What is known about this species
The researcher clarified that the specific behavior of this spider is still largely unknown.
“Other organisms have been studied, such as cockroaches, pseudoscorpions, and mites, which have limited mobility. It is known that they take advantage of others to disperse, that is, to travel long distances,” Pompozzi explained.
The research was funded by the American Arachnological Society, which granted a subsidy interested in this topic about which very little was known regarding the species in question.
“Spiders move very quickly, have the ability to walk and climb on their own, but these, in particular, use the behavior of getting on top of ants,” he contextualized.
“One hypothesis we are considering is that they do this to travel inside ant nests, between brood chambers, fungal gardens, or tunnels. We are trying to study this behavior through experiments and recordings to learn more about how they climb onto ants, how they stay on top of them, if they bite them with their fangs, or if they hold on with structures on their legs, and if they can maintain themselves in the ant’s flight,” the expert elaborated.
Another aspect he highlighted about this discovery, which could be “the most important,” is that this behavior may be related to “dispersal over long distances, taking advantage of the ant’s flight,” he expanded.
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