Can Ants Make Webs?
WouterWhether you’re a fan of spiders or not, you’re probably wondering: can ants make webs? These insects have super sticky silk lines, which are used to catch and hold prey. The chemical defense in web silk may have evolved to help spiders protect themselves from invading ants.
Despite their chemical defenses, ants have a stinging bite. They have large, wide photoreceptors that allow them to see well at night. Their stings are painful. Some ants are also able to navigate in dark objects.
Ants have strong jaws and sharp mandibles. Ants are often drawn indoors to look for salt and other nutrients. But when the colony is disturbed, many species swarm.
Some ants are more aggressive than others. In Australia, there are feather-legged assassin bugs that prey on ants. They can also be found in North America. Other species, like the rhinoceros ant, are harmless. But they settle disputes old-fashioned style.
The best ant defense is probably mimicry. Nearly every insect family has species that mimic ants.
But most mimicry studies have focused on the color or shape. For example, jumping spiders mimic smaller Crematogaster ants and large Camponotus ants.
Another interesting trick is ant mimicry. Some spiders live near ants and confuse them into thinking the spider is carrying a dead ant. They also wave their small forelegs in the air like ant antennae. They do this to avoid being eaten.
Another spider trick is to use dead prey as a shield. These spiders can flip their bodies over an ant in milliseconds. This is called a “handshake” behavior.
