The Articulated Fake Arachnid spider (a working title) measures in at a miniscule 5mm was observed in a region of the huge Amazon jungle by Biologist and science educator Phil Torres.
“It (first appeared) to be a medium sized spider about an inch across, possibly dead and dried out, hanging in the centre of a spider web along the side of the trail. Nothing too out of the ordinary for the Amazon,” he said.
“As you approach, the spider starts to wobble quickly forward and back, letting you know this spider is, in fact, alive.”
Torres has closesly studied the little spider with 25 of the same species being found in the floodplain surrounding the research facility in Peru where Torres works.
“That spider form you were looking at is actually made up of tiny bits of leaf, debris, and dead insects,” he said.
Torres believes that the decoy spider forms play an important part in the way the little spider’s catch their prey as well as defending themselves against the myriad of predators in the region where it lives.
Mr Torres said that specimens of the new spider would need to be collected and studied even closer before a report or article could be written.
Image: Phil Torres
