Scientists discovered that the Australian “ballista spider” uses a silk cone trap to catapult prey into its web, a feat of spider engineering never before observed.

A ballista spider’s trap can launch ants at an acceleration comparable to a severe car crash

A spider living in the rainforests of Queensland, Australia, builds a snare trap reminiscent of a Roman-era ballista weapon that it uses to catapult green tree ants into a web 30…