New Australian Spider Species Spins “Spring-Loaded Death Trap”

This spider was discovered in North Queensland, in the rainforest area (I grew up in North Queensland). The unique catapult trap is fastened to a leaf and triggered by foraging green tree ants, who aggressively defend their territory. When they bite the silken base of the trap, the “silk tethers release and the structure hurls the ant upward.” This “feat of arachnid engineering has never previously been observed.”

It appears that only one species of ant sets off the trap (the ant is amazing in itself: It blasts formic acid at predators and has “adhesive pads on its feet to help it carry heavy loads up trees”). It’s the only known spider to just hunt a single species. Researchers think the special slingshot method of hunting:

flings the ant from the foraging trail, reducing the risk that the spider will be swarmed by other workers. . . . However, it is still unknown why the green tree ant and no others approach the trap aggressively. One possibility, according to the study, may be that the spiders apply pheromones to the silk catapult that provoke only green tree ants, causing them to attack the cone and trigger its release.

This snare is incredibly effective “because it releases energy so rapidly that, relative to its size, it produces thousands of times more power than muscle can generate.” It’s a marvel of engineering, and the credit from the researchers and others quoted in the popular science article goes, of course, to evolutionary (blind-chance) processes. They assume an evolutionary arms race between the ants and spiders produced this method of hunting. It doesn’t matter how complex something is, people suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1) and refuse to give God glory for what he has made.

But spiders spinning intricate webs to snag other insects for dinner and ants blasting formic acid at their enemies brings up a question, “Why is God’s creation filled with creatures who look designed to kill or avoid being killed?” Genesis gives us the answer!

God graciously provided for his creation, giving them what they would need to survive and thrive in a world broken because of sin.

God’s original creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and humans and animals were created to be vegetarian (Genesis 1:30), though it’s unclear if insects fall into the animal category. (See this article on nephesh life and whether insects were on the menu prior to the fall. Interestingly, there’s even a vegetarian spider in today’s fallen world!) But when Adam and Eve sinned, creation fell, and now all of creation groans from the effects of sin. Some animals now eat other animals, and everything tries to avoid being eaten, and even insects are now a source of pain, difficulty, and even death for humans. It’s not the way it was designed to be—slingshot spiders and aggressive ants remind us that it’s a fallen world. God graciously provided for his creation, giving animals and even insects what they would need to survive and thrive in a world broken because of sin.

And God has also given us what we need—the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ who paid the price for our sin when he died on the cross and then rose from the grave, conquering sin and death. God cares for the spiders and the ants, and he cares for us.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.