The photo of Wrap-around spider camouflaged to resemble a twig is certain to make people squeamish about touching any unattended twigs or bark in Australia.
The spider that can blend into the twig was found in Rotary Park Rainforest Reserve, Lismore, New South Wales.
The scary spider was found in Rotary Park Rainforest Reserve, Lismore, New South Wales. Dolophones turrigera or a ‘wrap-around’ spider can blend into its background when resting on a twig. It takes a few minutes of intent gazing to detect the outline of the arachnid.
Like all Australian Dolophones, Dolophones turrigera’s upper surface of the abdomen looks like a cone shaped shield.
The wrap-arounds appearance is similar to Australian Dolophones species. The Dolophones abdomen resembles an inverted dish on which is a pattern of oval discs. The oval discs have a slit or a line in the middle.In addition to ‘inverted dish’ abdomen, Dolophones turrigera possess a tall nearly cylindrical peak on top of the abdomen.
The concave undersides of the body allow the spider to wrap around small branches and conceal themselves from birds and other predators.
The adult female of the species is around 8mm. The male is usually smaller of the two. He is around 4-5mm. The Dolphones turrigera is similar to other Dolophones species such as Dolophones conifera. The concave undersides of the Wrap-around spiders allow them to wrap around small branches or bark for camouflage.
The wrap-around spider builds its large orb-like web at night, but by day blends itself on a twig and ‘vanishes’.
They build orb-like webs at night which are taken down by morning. The webs are built vertically between two trees.
Though the wrap-around spiders are noticeable on their web at night. They remain well concealed from their predators such as birds and wasps, which are mostly active at day.
The spiders are visible on their web at night but spend the day tightly wrapped around a twig, where their colorations disguise them as a twig. They are prey to birds and hunting wasps who are active during the day. Hunting wasps walk up and down the twigs to detect the spiders.
The photo of the Wrap-around spider shared on Reddit has evoked a queasy response from its users.
