An illustration by Maria Sibylla Merian from her book dedicated otherwise mostly to butterflies of Surinam. This engraving, created from sketches drawn in Surinam, shows a large mygalomorph spider who had just captured a bird. Probably because of this illustration the German name for the mygalomorphs is Vogelspinne (“Birdspider”). The illustration also pictures both army ants and leaf cutter ants and in the accompanying text Maria Sibylla as the first European described these ant species and it's habits.