Studying Ant and Spider interaction : Myrmarchne

[Gogyeng]

Spiders of the genus Myrmgroup webbinarchne (eg. melanotarsa) benefit from ant mimicry not only for consumption but also for protection from other Salticids, and display interesting social behaviour (communal nests). Has anybody attempted to keep a mixed ant/spider colony for study?

 

[EtienneN]

I don’t think moulting spiders and ants in the same enclosure would work out well. Unless they moult like heteropoda species suspended from up high. This kind of makes me think of the movie Arachnophobia Even though these species look like and mimic ant behaviour, I don’t think they create hivemind “super organisms” the way many ant colonies do. Their social behaviour is just the façade of cooperation, as they tolerate each other to maximise space. They don’t actually have “queens” drones and workers. They’re more like wolves in sheep’s clothing.