Maria Sibylla Merian, the Bird-eating Spider, and the Bridge of Ants
A ground-breaking naturalist in South America
It is a striking image. A large spider pins down a hummingbird it has caught near a nest in a guava tree. The hummingbird has the yellow throat, red cap, and iridescent wings of a male Ruby Topaz (Chrysolampis mosquitus). The spider is charcoal, with a bronze abdomen, and rust-coloured feet. It is a Guyanan Pinktoe (Avicularia avicularia), a species well-known to collectors. There are army ants (Eciton sp), too, with big curved jaws that overlap at the tip. They are lined up head to tail, forming a living bridge between two twigs.
It caused a stir.
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Frankfurt in 1647. Her father, a printmaker, died when Maria was three years old. Her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, was a painter. Specialising in tulip cultivars, Marrel’s work was particularly popular during the tulpenmanie that swept the Dutch Republic in the 1630s. His plant paintings often included insects and other invertebrates.
As a child, Maria was a talented artist and astute observer of the natural world. She raised silkworms and other caterpillars, recording their transformations into moths and butterflies. In 1665, she married Johann Andreas Graff, artist and printmaker, and a few years later…
