Zooming in on Montjuic Castle (i)
December 8th, 2009 | Written by Lucy Brzoska admin |You barely notice the ants unless they’re lugging some eye-catching, outsize object, such as the remains of a woodlouse. It was an awkward task, requiring tenacity and strong pincers.
Team effort successfully manoeuvred the crustacean through the crack. There was barely any flesh on it but woodlice themselves will eat their own or each other’s cast-off cuticles. The hard, over-lapping armour plating is made of calcium carbonate, a form of calcium we get in dietary supplements. In any case, ants bring back all kinds of booty to their galleries, edible or not.
A jumping spider was darting among the busy ants: Menemerus semilimbatus, a Mediterranean species often found on sunny walls and rocks. Upside-down, it surveyed me with a fine set of four bright eyes.
The other four are located on the carapace, slightly disconcerting until you get used to it. Two of them are clearly visible here.
Salticids are renowned for their visual acuity. They hunt by stealth and pounce with deadly accuracy. In their courtship dancing, the males often flaunt brightly coloured parts of their body. Some species have impressive John Travolta disco moves (click on second image down).
Another movement caught my eye and I was just in time to see a soft downy feather disappear through a hole, as an ant whisked it into the depths of the castle wall. You can only wonder what use the ants would find for it.
