John-the-tourist writes:
The first “mainly vegetarian” spider known to science was announced today (as reported by EurekaAlert and other sources). Of the 40,000 or so species of known spiders, all have been mostly carnivorous. The Bagheera kiplingi is the first spider to dine primarily at the salad bar.
If the name of the spider sounds vaguely familiar, the genus was named after Bagheera, the black panther in Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”. I find it rather ironic that the first vegetarian spider is named after meat eating mammal.
What’s next? Tofu munching arachnids? Stay tuned.
Image credit: Seacoast Eat Local
