Myrmecotypus is a spider genus that mimics ants

Ant mimicry

Ant mimicry is mimicry of ants by other organisms. Ants are abundant all over the world, and insect predators that rely on vision to identify their prey such as birds and wasps normally avoid them, either because they are unpalatable, or aggressive. Thus some other arthropods mimic ants to escape...

. All species occur from Panama to Mexico, with one species found in the USA.
M. rettenmeyeri has a strange longitudinal band of black hairs extending along the midline of the cephalothorax

Cephalothorax

The cephalothorax is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. The word cephalothorax is derived from the Greek words for head and thorax...

. This seems to enhance the resemblance to the ant

Ant

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...

 Camponotus sericeiventris with which it shares the same habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

. The crests of black hairs correspond to the solid longitudinal keel-like dorsal extensions of the posterior sections of the ant's thorax.

M. rettenmeyeri is named after entomologist Carl W. Rettenmeyer, who researched ants.

Species

• Myrmecotypus fuliginosus O. P.-Cambridge, 1894 — Mexico
  Mexico
  The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
  
  
• Myrmecotypus lineatipes Chickering, 1937 — Panama
  Panama
  Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
  
  
• Myrmecotypus lineatus (Emerton
  James Henry Emerton
  James Henry Emerton was an American arachnologist.-Early life:Emerton was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on March 31, 1847. He was rather frail, and a young helper in his father's drug store, George F. Markoe, interested the boy in outdoor life...
  
  , 1909) — USA
• Myrmecotypus niger Chickering, 1937 — Panama
• Myrmecotypus olympus Reiskind, 1969 — Panama
• Myrmecotypus orpheus Reiskind, 1969 — Panama
• Myrmecotypus pilosus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1898) — Mexico to Panama
• Myrmecotypus rettenmeyeri Unzicker, 1965 — Panama

External links

• Pictures of M. lineatus