Metallic Blue Ant Spider
Male, anterior
Ellura
Cone-palp Swift Spider
Male
 
                      
Metallic Blue Ant Spider (Habronestes sp ES01)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:     Male, ventral
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)

Copyright © 2015-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 18-Oct-2015
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.