Until very recently, approximately 40,000 spiders existed and they were all thought to be predators. But, now two scientists, Christopher Meehan of Villanova University and Eric Olson of Brandeis University, have discovered a new spider that feeds mostly on plants. The Bagheera Kiplingi is a jumping spider that feeds off plants and nectar. The coolest part about these spiders is that they eat a acacia plant that is guarded by viscous ants. When textbooks talk about mutualism they commonly references co-evolutionary mutualism where the ants and the acacia plant help each other live. This spider is changing everything we have known about this mutualism.
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