Pelican spider: a grotesque spider that hunts exclusively other spiders (7 photos)

Size doesn't matter when it comes to spreading terror. The killer spider, also known as the pelican spider, is an 8-mm tiny one that has become a nightmare for all its relatives. How? It's simple. He excluded from his diet everyone except his own kind.





The hero of all arachnophobes lives where there are plenty of spiders and other evil spirits - the tropical forests of Australia, Africa and Madagascar. The sight of a killer spider does not inspire horror. Rather, it raises questions: how does it even work?



Selling pelican. If you don't know anything about birds, please don't ruin my deal.

A strange structure of head and jaws is attached to the abdomen and eight legs. But it was she who provided the hunter with a well-fed life.



Chief accountant Galina Sergeevna takes to the dance floor in the midst of a corporate party.

The pelican spider does not set webs. But not because he doesn’t know how to make a web. He is cunning and understands that catching another spider using his own method is a disastrous endeavor. So he pretends to be the victim in order to become the hunter.



The pelican spider was named after the bird because of its unusual chelicerae shape. Although, in my opinion, a killer spider makes more sense to an animal...

The goal of a hungry pelican spider is to find someone else's web. And then the one-man show begins: the assassin drums on someone else’s fishing net, imitating a fly caught in the trap. The prey itself runs into the killer's clutches from all eight legs, anticipating lunch. But instead of a delicious meal, only a couple of sharp chelicerae await her.



Don't twitch! I'm trying to eat!

Yes, those long things on the spider's head are not legs, but jaws. With them, the arthropod pelican grabs the victim directly by the abdomen, injecting a dose of poison. The prey has nothing to respond to - the chelicerae of the prey spider simply do not reach the hunter’s body. So the owner loses on his own online battlefield.



Wow, Seryoga, how much weight you have lost. The face is already haggard!

Apparently, such survival tactics in the spider world are quite successful, because pelican spiders are very ancient creatures. For the first time, a representative of this family was found in a piece of Baltic amber, which is 40 million years old. And the oldest find is the imprint of a pelican spider from the Upper Jurassic - 160 million years old.



Spider: That's what I crashed, I hope no one saw... People after 40 million years: ahaha, check it out, a prehistoric find!