Many great scientific discoveries have been made by accident. This one is no exception: Scientists surprised a pair of spiders teaming up to recreate a flower! First observation of cooperative mimicry to attract prey and repel predators.
Once upon a time a spider dreamed of a flower… Unable to achieve it alone, she joined forces with her species partner. Together, they created a magnificent visual deception, intended for both their prey and their hunters. One day, a couple of environmental experts from China’s Yunnan University discovered this cooperation by accident, and decided to document it in a journal. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Worth reading beyond borders, here is the story of this romantic-strategic alliance.
It originates in the tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna in southwest China. As part of their research project, Shi-Mao Wu and Jiang-Yun Gao are exploring there while trying to mimic the flowers around them, apparently with a spider. Intrigued, they approach, and discover that it is actually two spiders on top of each other, cooperating to recreate the image of the flower. What researchers don’t yet know is that they are the first to witness cooperative copying, which has never been seen before in any species.
Together, we are stronger!
These spiders, from their Latin name Thomasus guangxicusCrabs are part of the spider family, Thomycidae. They survive by blending into their surroundings, on the one hand to hide from their predators – usually birds – and on the other hand by trapping their prey – usually InsectsInsects Visit the flowers. The pairs observed by the researchers consisted of one male and one female. had the appearance of a female PetalsPetals Pale whites, imitators CorollaCorolla Blended from flowers. Male, very small and located on backback Feminine, took the appearance of pistil and stamens. Both of them imitated the flowers perfectly Hoya Pandaturafrom the family of Asclepiadaceaeby which he was surrounded.
Could this be the result of co-evolution?
Reproduction of this floral complexity is possible only through the presence of spiders of both sexes. This is a case of double-benefit cooperation, which expands the mating capacity of male and female spiders: individuals improve their survival as prey and their effectiveness as predators. How did they evolve together like this? This is the question researchers are now asking themselves. Studying the co-evolution of these male and female spiders may offer a way to understand the establishment and variation of cooperative copying in living organisms.
