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In nature, it is very rare to find a David versus Goliath situation where the former emerges victorious.

But that's exactly what happened when a solitary tiny spider from the Negev desert in Israel took down an ant four times its size.

And this wasn't just a one-time event - the fearless Zodarian cyrenaicum regularly hunts down and kills creatures bigger than itself, proving it's not just size that matters in the natural world.

This first image in an incredible sequence shows the moment a juvenile Zodarian cyrenaicum spider attacked and killed a worker ant up to six times its own size. Here the juvenile approaches its prey and gets ready to unleash its paralysing venom

The spider measures a measly three millimetres (0.12 inches) on average, but it routinely attacks ants up to 17 millimetres (0.7 inches) in size - and it actually prefers to fight the 'goliaths' as opposed to picking on creatures its own size.

Details about how it attacks and kills its prey with a venomous bite were published in the journal The Science of Nature.

The study was led by Stano Pekár of Masaryk University in the Czech Republic.

Pekár's team observed the natural prey and predatory behaviour of the minute ant-eating Zodarion cyrenaicum spider in the field, and in the laboratory.

This spider feeds almost exclusively on the Messor arenarius ant.

There are two versions (or morphs) of the ant in the wild - a large and a small one.

But surprisingly it was found that the spider at the juvenile stage deliberately chooses to hunt Messor arenarius above all other ant species present in the sand dunes.

This is in contrast to other Zodarion spider species where juveniles select small ants that are comparable to their own size and, as they develop, switch to larger ant species.

In this next image the attacked ant is standing in a C-shaped position with venom clearly taking effect. The spider is biting its hind leg to immobilise it and move in for the kill. The venomous bite avoids retaliation by making the prey paralysed and helpless

In this final image the ant is taken down by the juvenile spider. It is seen here feeding on the gaster (part of the abdomen) of the paralysed ant. The venom glands of the adult ant-eating spiders are more than 50 times larger than those of the juveniles, but the latter is still enough to take down an ant

The researchers suggest that this active selection is likely because the spider is able to recognise a specific component of a pheromone, a chemical substance, produced by the ant.

Pekár's team also found that the adult female spiders generally capture the large morphs, while the tiny juvenile spiders catch smaller ants.

In all cases, though, the spiders were much smaller than their prey.

The giant ants were always captured by a single individual, and immobilised with a single bite.

Other spiders of the same species such as Zodarion styliferum (pictured) prefer to pick on smaller ants that are comparable to their own size and, as they develop, switch to larger ant species. Pekár's team also found that the adult female spiders generally capture the larger ants

Previous work done by Pekár showed that the capture strategy of female adult spiders includes a fast attack from behind, followed by a retreat to avoid counter-attacks by the ants.

In the present study, he noted that the tiny juveniles' attack strategy differs from that of the females.

Thanks to their tiny size, they are able to climb on the dorsal side of an ant and deliver an immobilising bite to the abdomen, thus avoiding retaliation by the immediately helpless prey.

The venom glands of adult ant-eating spiders are more than 50 times larger than those of the juveniles.

However, it only takes about twice as long for the venom of the younger spiders to take effect.

This suggests that this spider species possesses very potent venom already at the juvenile stage.

The greater success of adult spiders in capturing prey is most likely because they are able to inject more venom into their prey.

'Specialized capture combined with very effective venom enables this ant-eating spider to capture giant prey,' Pekár concludes.