EVER wondered what it鈥檚 like to be a vegetarian at a steak-eating convention? Welcome to the world of Bagheera kiplingi, the only spider that survives on plants.
鈥淎round 40 or 50 spider species have been documented drinking nectar, but this is the first case where a spider has been shown to survive on plant matter,鈥� says of Rice University in Houston, Texas.
By measuring isotope ratios in B. kiplingi鈥榮 tissue and plugging this data into a dietary model, Christopher Meehan of the University of Arizona in Tucson determined that protein-rich nodules called , found on the leaves of some plants, make up 90 per cent of its diet (Current Biology, ).
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, a spider specialist at Yale University, says being a vegetarian may provide B. kiplingi with a more sustainable food supply. It may also encourage the typically territorial spiders to cooperate, says Meehan, who has seen hundreds gathering on one plant. 鈥淲e think that the abundance of food available to this spider may be allowing it to let down its defences,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his may be a fascinating snapshot into the evolution of a social creature as it transitions from hunter to gatherer.鈥�