Day 71 - the spider that mimics an ant

These are ants - marching across the trail in Adyar.

And here's a closeup of one of those marching ants.  I do not which one, maybe some helpful soul will identify it one of these days.  And note, there are two types - a bigger one and a kutty one.  

And this here on the leaf was at first sight another ant, as far as I Knew.  Until Sagarika ordered etc look closely and count the legs.

And so I did.  (I am obedient.). Wheat?  8 legs.  You can count too.  And then there was another one under some kind of veil.

Ant-mimic Spiders! Genus Myrmarachne - The name is a combination of Ancient Greek (myrmex), meaning "ant", and(arachne), meaning "spider", according to Wiki.

How fascinating! They don’t just look like ants—they also behave like them. They are supposedly  imitating a more "dangerous"  creature to avoid predators. Ants are aggressive, chemically defended, and usually live in large colonies, so many predators avoid them. Spiders tap into this protection by pretending to be ants.  I tried to wrap my human mind around this interesting phenomenon - humans fear spiders more than ants.  All a matter of perspective.

As I watched it, it really even walked like an ant!  A jerky, stop-and-go here-and-there kind of motion.  And those front pair of legs - now and then waved it also, like antennae.  Fooled me completely! 

Usually, female spiders are much larger than males, but in this Genus, it seems that roles are reversed?

I dont know this for sure, but I feel the one on the left is the male - "larger, elongated set of “jaws” (chelicerae) sticking forward. These are typical of males, which use them for fighting with rivals and courtship displays. This gives the “head” a bulkier look compared to a real ant." - As per CHatGPT

The top right one was under a kind of thin film, and maybe she was guarding eggs?  Female says ChatGPT- "a slimmer, smoother face without the exaggerated jaws, which matches the female form. Females tend to be more convincing ant mimics because their proportions are closer to actual ants."

Go figure!

Next time I shall be watching more carefully.