Rainforest Revelations

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The amazing Green Tree Ant-mimicking crab spider (Amyciaea albomaculata) relies on subterfuge to deceive its’ prey. Green Tree Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) are an abundant food source, but getting close enough to bag and eat them requires evolutionary assistance.  The spider’s abdomen has two black dots resembling eyes and it presents the abdomen as a head to fool the ants.  We suspect that there’s a little more to it, than just the colour.  We know that a Green Tree Ant nest brought in from a different colony, will be demolished in a short time, yet their inhabitants are green ants.  So what’s the difference?

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The lichen spider, Pandercetes gracilis, is a sparassid that goes to a great deal of trouble to camouflage itself, so a good photo of it in the wild should be difficult to celebrate such accomplishment.  Nevertheless, I have accumulated this collection for comparative purposes.