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Australian spider builds prey-triggered silk catapult to catch one ant species
How 2 Israeli newsrooms covered this story — translated into English and compared side by side.
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First reported by Ynet · Jun 24, 2026
What happened
Researchers in northern Queensland found a Propostira spider that uses a prey-triggered silk catapult to catch only green tree ants. The trap launches ants up to 30 centimeters and appears to exploit the ants’ own aggression to reduce the spider’s risk.
- 01The spider’s silk trap is triggered by prey, not by the spider.
- 02It captures only the green tree ant, Oecophylla smaragdina.
- 03The trap can launch ants 30 centimeters high in 40 milliseconds.
- 04Researchers documented 35 captures, all of the same ant species.
- 05Scientists say the system is among the highest-performance in the animal kingdom.
Summary translated & synthesized from the sources below by baba. Read each original for the full report.
Full coverage · 2 outlets
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