A new species of spider has been discovered with a novel way of keeping its presence under wraps. So subtle is the newly found creature that you could mistakenly pluck it from a nearby tree with no idea it was an arachnid until you had a handful of spider.
Rather than hanging out all day on a web the new spider instead disguises itself as a leaf. The masquerade is so convincing, the spider has even grown a ‘tail’ to mimic a stalk.
Matjaž Kuntner, of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, came across the spider while in China’s Yunnan province.
With his fellow researchers, Dr Kuntner was shining his torch light at spider silk strands when he came across a patch of odd looking leaves.
“If there’s a web, there’s a spider,” he said.
Looks like a leaf. Is much worse. Picture: Matjaz KuntnerSource:Supplied
As they investigated, the team found what they suspected to be an entirely new type of spider and the first known variant to try its luck at pretending to be leaf.
“Better known in insects, plants, birds, and fish, masquerade in arachnids involves only a handful of spiders ... that resemble flowers, dead twigs, plant detritus, buds, bark, or bird droppings,” said Dr Kuntner in the Journal of Arachnology. “However, genuine leaf masquerade has not been known in arachnids.”
In order to look the full leaf, the spider bunches its legs tightly together so it doesn’t give the game away.read more
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