Nature's Wonder: Ant + Spider

Have you ever seen a spider that looks like an ant? Or is it an ant that looks like a spider? I don't know if I said it right, but it seems to me that an ant and a spider mated and had an offspring that looks like this. It's not easy to encounter something like this all the time so I consider it rare.

At first, I thought it was an ant. But I noticed that it's size is bigger compared to the ants that I'm used to. So I stopped and zoomed to figure out what was bothering me. And to my surprise, it is a rare sight to behold.

It's the first time that I have ever seen such specimen. Before, I've seen ladybug patterns to an elongated insect but I didn't knew that I could get the chance to know that mutation is possible between an ant and a spider. I'm not even certain if it's mutation due to breeding, but I consider it a one in a million result.

When I saw this guy, it was all alone. I did not see any other companion that looks the same as this insect. And it seems to me that it's territorial in nature.

Look at the tiny insect when I tried take my camera closer. It was kind of aggresive because it always go on defensive mode and seems like ready to attack any intruder. Maybe it got its aggressive nature from its genes. A combination of probably a soldier ant and a spider could've proved that theory.

I'm also amused how it can carry those two large pincer-like body parts from its mouth. I'm not sure if they're connected to the mouth or are they set of hands that enables it to do more out of the ordinary. Though, I did not see those two go separate. They've always stayed close and together.

And it made me wonder how strong could it be to carry them with its head and still be able to move like nothing is weighing it down. What also led me to it's consclusion that it is half spider is its eyes. Those set of eyes are not born out of an ant.

Its eyes are black in color but changes to gold if the lighting differs. And when you see them shine with gold, it seems that it's staring directly at you. It feels like it is observing your next move.

On the front are the biggest wide eye that changes in color due to light. There's two more small eyes on the side in front of it's head. And at the back, I'm not sure if they are literally eyes but they do look like one and they're quite big also. If they are eyes, it would mean that it could see what is infront of it and what is at the back of it. And that is an insane skill to have.

Do you see that big black dots at the back of its head? Those are the eyes that I am talking about. At first, I thought they were the eyes because I noticed them first rather than the ones in front. If you see and look at it from the top they're the first ones that you can see. But if you look forward and lean closer to see it at front, you'll be amused that it has other set of eyes.

Honestly, I thought it was alien mutation. But then I remembered that spiders has unique features as well. Also I should not be surprised because nature will just keep on surprising you.

Here's a top view. Everything I've seen about this insect so far is long. The hands and body are long and I don't know if it's evident to ants as well but I think crossing over an ant and spider might've been the result of this.

Also, I saw that it was a spider web where it probably hold its prey. And from what I saw, it can also spew web from the back of its body like what spiders do. I've observed that when it jumped to attack the the back of my camera at the time I tried to move closer.

I was literally trying to photograph back and forth to get the perfect shot because it always move like it's staying on guard. So it was tiring but I'd say worth the effort.

Now that I think about it, I don't know why didn't I catch it as a pet. My cousins and brothers once around the place for leisure. Maybe because I was scared at the moment and I wasn't sure if it was venomous or not. If you look closely to those big pincer-like body part on its mouth, you seem to see two small fangs or claw on each one of them.

I maybe wrong or I maybe right with any of these conclusions. What matters to me right now is I get to share this wonderful moment of discovery where it's my first time to once again encounter something I've never seen before. And it was a such a joy that I get to film and share it to everybody.