A newly discovered spider in the rainforests of northern Queensland has evolved an extraordinary hunting technique. Researchers say the species uses a powerful spring-loaded silk trap to capture a single type of prey, catching one ant at a time in what they describe as "the ultimate specialization."
The small nocturnal arachnid has been nicknamed the ballista spider after the ancient Roman siege weapon that launched bolts and stones using stored tension. According to scientists, the spider appears to have developed a unique web system designed specifically to capture the aggressive green tree ant, Oecophylla smaragdina.
The discovery and detailed analysis of the spider's hunting behavior were published in the journal Current Biology. Although the species has not yet been formally named, it belongs to the genus Propostira. The spider was first spotted by Professor Greg Anderson, a biomedical researcher who is also a spider taxonomist and photographer.
Researchers from Macquarie University, led by Professor Ajay Narendra and postgraduate student Pranav Joshi, spent 10 days and nights in rainforest near Cooktown in far north Queensland searching for the spiders. Using high speed and infrared cameras, they closely documented the animals and recorded their remarkable behavior.
