Guess the mimic

16 thoughts on “Guess the mimic”

1. I’m guessing it is a spider.

   1. Agree.

      1. Agree. The eyes give it away.

         1. The 8 legs contribute too.

            1. I’d say spider because of the above reasons.

            2. Inigo agrees: silly spider

            3. With the front two legs mimicking antennae.

            4. Agree. 8 appendages.

   2. Right on!

2. Incredibly precise mimicry – the constriction of the cephalothorax gives a convincing imitation of the head and thorax of an ant, and the first legs are really antenna-like (with too many articulations). But the eyes and cheliceres tell the truth. A Salticid (?) spider.
   (To prof. Moran: that cannot be the result of genetic drift !)

3. Is the model the tropical American ponerine ant ‘Neoponera’ or ‘Pachycondyla villosa’? The Myrmecos blog calls P. villosa the “hormiga tigre” and comments that it “carries a sting [that is] best avoided.”

4. Yes, a very good ant mimicking spider. I just saw a different species of ant mimicking spider a few days ago.

5. I still don’t understand what selection pressures cause so many spiders to mimic ants.

   1. You haven’t messed with Neotropical ants, I guess? I start with a presumption that wasp-y looking ants pack a serious sting.

      Another take — more evidence that birds can count to four [or eight?] — whatever else ant mimics do, they tend to appear 6-legged.

      1. Yes, I need to get out more. Where I live, the spiders are pretty fearsome and the ants are pretty wussy.

6. Definitely a spider. You can tell that the antennae are actually its 2 front legs giving it a grand total of eight and the the number of eyes are a giveaway as well.

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