Ant Spider
Female S2, Abdomen Pattern, posterior
Metallic Blue Ant Spider
Female, eyes + blue carapase
| Ant Spider Female S2, Abdomen Pattern, posterior | | Metallic Blue Ant Spider Female, eyes + blue carapase | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Spiders, Scorpions, Mites & Ticks (Arachnida) | |||
| Order: | Spiders (Araneae) | ||||
| Family: | Ant Spider (Zodariidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Metallic Blue Ant Spider (Habronestes sp ES01) | ||||
| This Photo: | Female, dorsal | ||||
| Other name: | Blue-headed Habronestes | ||||
Thank you Darren Carman for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere Very much like Swift spiders; they are very fast. It wouldn't surprise us if they are blue to mimick Blue Meat Ants (Iridomyrmex lividus) We perhaps went a bit overboard trying to show the white marks, and reflectived hue's, but just found it remarkable. Unfortunately we haven't managed to get a usable image of the female size, but estimate it's only slightly longer than the male (which is ~5mm). We have 3 sightings shown here (2f, 1m) and it's possible they are either different species or the same. It very obviously blue, and looks like an ant running on the ground. Has 2 white "racing" stripes on the side of the abdomen; the anterior one wraps around the front of the abdomen, but the rear stops half way up. Neither contunue underneath. There are also 2 elongated dots dorsally, with a single long stripe at the posterior. Similar Species: Blue Meat Ant (Iridomyrmex lividus) | |||||
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