User:Philcha/Sandbox/Bagheera kiplingi

Sources

• 'Veggie' spider shuns meat diet - Rebecca Morelle - 12 October 2009 - BBC News:
  • is 5-6mm long
  • eats the tips of the acacia plants - known as Beltian bodies - which are packed full of protein.
  • has to evade the attention of ants, which live in the hollow spines of the tree
  • ants and acacia trees have co-evolved to form a mutually beneficial relationship: the aggressive ants protect the trees from predators, swarming to attack any invaders; and in return for acting as bodyguards, the ants get to gorge on the acacias' Beltian bodies themselves
  • Professor Robert Curry, from Villanova University, said, ""The spiders live on the plants - but way out on the tips of the old leaves, where the ants don't spend a lot of time, because there isn't any food on those leaves."
  • when they get hungry, the spiders head to the newer leaves, they watch to see that there are not any ants in the local area that they are going after. They take one of the Beltian bodies, clip it off, hold it in their jaws and run away to one of the undefended parts of the plant to eat the food."
  • Like other species of jumping spider, Bagheera kiplingi has keen eyesight, is especially fast and agile.
  • Bagheera kiplingi′s diet is almost completely vegetarian - although occasionally topped up with a little ant larvae at times.
  • they don't build a web to catch food
  • Acacias also produce leaves throughout the year - even through the dry season - and have no chemical defenses as other plants do, but rely on the ants for defense.