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Why would a spider make news? Normally a spider would make news if it bit someone and that person died. Of course “news” is a general term and in the realm of science “news” might not be “news” to the rest of the world. If a spider were to bite someone and that person died then it would be Worldly “news”. If it were just the discovery of a weird species then it might not make it to the mainstream press. Current Biology recently released one such article that will probably miss the worldly news. This article details a new species of spider that they found to be quite fascinating. The researchers who published the paper found a spider that prefers to dine on vegetation. The species is named Bagheera kiplingi and is found through much of Central America and Southern Mexico.
Vegetarians aren’t new; most of the world’s animal population prefers to eat vegetation rather than meat and most of the insect population as well. What makes this little spider so different is that most spiders thrive by eating other insects. This one thrives by eating vegetation from the acacia bush. Other spiders have been found that are herbivores but this one is unique in that its primary source is the acacia bush. It also hunts for the vegetation, hunting in the sense that it has to share the plant with ants that are dangerous and will usually kill anything else that comes close. It is able to get its food by being very cunning and agile.
From a biblical perspective this spider is also interesting. In Genesis when God says everything was good, creationists believe that before the flood all animals and insects were vegetarians. It also says, after the flood of Noah’s time, that this would change. God told us that we could eat the meat of animals and that they would fear us (Genesis 9:2 NIV). Finding spiders like these help to show the world that what God said about the world through the bible is true. Herbivorous spiders can exist and thrive.
This isn’t the only occurrence of something that is commonly known to be carnivorous turning out to be herbivorous. Many years back there was a tiger that refused to eat meat. It would not even drink blood if it was mixed in with its food. As weird as it sounds, the Bible speaks of this happening again when the world is created new. The wolf will lay down with the lamb (Isaiah 11:6 NIV). When the world is created new we will not have anymore carnivores. We will live in peace with all of God’s creation as it was intended in the Garden of Eden.
With over 40000 species of spiders in the world a new species might not make the worldly news. Biologists find this spider fascinating and the spider will forever be in the history of the world because it made news on a much smaller scale. It is also hard to imagine that this same spider could provide hope. After all it’s just a spider. For those who have a hope for an eternal life on a newly created world then this little spider shows what a very small portion of our inherited new world might look like. For those who have no hope for an eternal life this little spider is just an odd and in their mind defective version of the spider. God gave it to us to show us his creative nature. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, (1 Corinthians 1:27)”. He gave it to us to show us that we can’t know everything and that we should expect things like this that will confound the men that seek knowledge outside of God’s grace.
For more info: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091012121331.htm
Picture : Adult female Bagheera kiplingi eats Beltian body harvested from ant-acacia. (Credit: R. L. Curry)
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