By Jim Leffman via SWNS
A prehistoric spider that disguises itself as an ant has been discovered trapped in fossilized resin.
The rare find shows that millions of years ago animals were mimicking others to escape predators.
The spider was found in a type of resin called copal, a less mature version of amber, which can be up to three million years old.
Paleobiologist Dr. George Poinar from the Oregon State University College of Science said: “Ants are particularly good creatures for spiders to pretend to be as many animals find ants distasteful or dangerous to eat.
“Ants are aggressive in their own defense. They have a strong bite as well as a stinging venom and they can call in dozens of nestmates as allies.
“Spiders, meanwhile, have no chemical defenses and are loners, which makes them vulnerable to being hunted by larger spiders, wasps and birds, predators that would rather avoid ants.
“So if a spider can be like an ant, it’s more likely to be unbothered.”
The spider, found in Medellin, Colombia, has been named Myrmarachne colombiana and is described in the journal Historical Biology.
Several groups of spiders have developed the ability to look and behave like various types of ants and there are also spiders that try to blend in as other insects, such as flies, beetles and wasps.
Most of the copycat spiders belong to a few families of hunting spiders, including jumping spiders.
The specimen in the Colombian copal appears to be a jumping spider, though no modern Colombian spiders mimic ants.
The block of resin in which the spider was entombed was too fragile to date without destroying the arachnid, so while it is millions of years old they cant say exactly how old the specimen is.
Dr. Poinar, now 87, was the first to try and extract ancient DNA from preserved fossils and it was his idea that author Michael Crichton used to write Jurassic Park.
He said: “It is a challenge for spiders to accomplish this magical transformation to ants.
“Ants have six legs and two long antennae, while spiders have eight legs and no antennae.
“How is this accomplished? Most scientists say it begins with spider mutation, adaptation and then natural selection.
“However, I think there is some spider reasoning and intelligence involved too since the spiders often model their body changes after specific ants in the same environment.
“In the early days, we were told that all habits of insects were the result of instincts, but that is no longer the case.”
