Spidey Senses

Spider-Ant
Spider-Ant
Does whatever a spider can

Except jump
Cause it would be sus
- Among ants be like 'Did Carl just casually jump 20 stories high like it was nothing??'
Can he jump from a branch?
No he can't, he is an ant
Look out, he is a Spider-Ant!
- Strange, she can't fall from a branch either. Whenever she does, she always seems to catch herself with spider web...
whatever a spider c’ant
Ant-spider, surely?

It's lucky for them ants can't count. "...seven, eight legs?? Wait a minute!"

The skinwalkers are among us

imagine if a species of lemur evolved to broadly look like us, but still with lemur faces and stuff
that's basically what's happening for ants, terrifying
- I don't think ants see very well, so it'd prob be more like lemurs that look exactly like us, but smell like ozone and old grease.

Bottom left is definitely a spider. I count 8 legs and can see the distinct segmentation of a spider body. Though, really, just dat fat ass gives it away.

... arent they all spiders?
(Besides the leggies & butts, eyes are also an ez clue.)
- I think so, too. They all seem to have eight legs, more than two eyes, which don't look like compound eyes, a cephalothorax/two body segments rather than three, a lack of antennae, etc. It would probably be easier to tell looking at them head-on so we could see their chelicerae.
  Edit: turns out the pedipalps are more of a giveaway.
  Man, I wish spiders didn't creep me out so much. They're very cool, but my ancient lizard brain isn't having it.
- They are all spiders, but if it hadn't said they were all spiders I could have still just looked at that guy with little scrutiny and went "wait a minute..." He looks the least ant-like.

I saw in a documental a snake which fools ants, but not to eat these, but to use these as bait for fooling lizards, which are the real prey for the snake.

The snake buried itself in the sand, leaving only the tail point, imitating a tan of grass
This attracts the ant
This in turn attracts the lizard who wants to eat the ant
End of the lizard

Evolution games

Jumping spiders are anywayvery smart for catching their prey, even without the need to disguise their aspect, analyzing the situation and adjust their strategy.

Evolution to spiders: We've decided to combine your head and thorax.

Some jumping spiders: Nah

Lmao, giraffe spiders!

Imagine trying to hide an entire pair of legs when you're hanging out with ants

"ohoho no! these aren't legs, they're pedipalps! mmm, pedipalps to help me eat!"
- What big pedipalps you have, great aunt!

I could be violet sky

The crab of the insect world?

Arthropods, man. They have two ideals and everything goes toward them.
- impossible arthropod beauty standards need to be stopped!

So in addition to crabification, we also have antification. Evolution really just found an energy minima at eight legs, huh?

It's more that the lobster plan (long body) is really quite good in many niches, but the crab plan (wide body, no exposed tail) works better in more productive ecosystems that have more predators. So anything lobster shaped coming up from the deep mud will have to reduce its tail or get sniped by a fish
- so wait are we just walking terrestrial lobsters? and.. gorillas are primate crabs maybe?
Carcinisation is a bit more of an adaption to environment (convergent evolution into same-ish shape for the by-chanceb best utility of it ... ie a perfect body) vs niche mimicry which is in relation to another specific species (ie some else's body).
Proper ants only have 6 legs, though. But yeah, these spiders-turned-to-ants would have 8 legs.
Well, and crabs technically have 10 legs, with their foremost pair typically equipped with pincers. 🙃
- i'm sure there's at least one ant-mimicking spider that has turned their front legs into extra quasi-pedipalps to blend in better, getting rid of limbs is super easy in evolution (that's where antennae and the existing pedipalps come from, and spinnerets too i presume)

Are ants so visual? I guess so, or there wouldn't be enough advantage for these guys to develop. I thought they went purely by sensing pheromones.

Maybe it isn't just fooling ants?
Don't know the advantage to fooling everything else but they are convincing. Worked in a warehouse that had a bunch of the red ones one summer. Everybody thought there was an ant problem but they seemed off to me. Firstly, they were never in groups, you'd only find lone ones wandering. Secondly, they walked like ants but held their "antennae" strangely. Lastly, when knocking one off a box I discovered they have a tether thread.
- Ants are rarely visual, but I’m also struggling to figure out which predator this is meant to dissuade.

My ADHD brain counting all the legs on these mfers for the past five minutes...

Great info, even the funny they-don't-jump part, def looks like they don't have the jumping hydraulics >!(but I'm always sad to see dead spiders)!<.

I could be an ant.

No, I'm not ant.

Plot Twist All actual ant species are derived from antcestor that was simply mimicking another species, and so thus all ants are total frauds.

Good thing I don't come from an evolutionary branch like that!