Looking Like a Tree Stump…. Spider
Many spiders adopt different methods to camouflage themselves. In the previous post, the Scorpion-Tailed Spider disguised itself amongst dead leaves. In another post from last year, I documented the findings of a Tree Stump Orb Weaver.
It was a wet night near NTU where I found the Tree Stump Orb Weaver (Poltys sp. possibly Poltys illepidus) busy catching prey. It was the first time seeing it with it’s legs spread apart.
#1 Tree Stump Orb Weaver in the middle of it’s web. At first glance, I thought it was a common garden spider, but the legs were smooth on the inner joints and hairy on the outer joints.
#2 Guess I spooked it as I got close, and it tried to close up, pulling the web together with it
#3 It was from this view that I realized that this fella resembled a tree trunk
#4 Closer view
#5 It climbed to the edge of the web, and perched on a branch, doing it’s favorite thing
#6 While it remained stationary, it gave me the opportunity to do a 3D image. =D
#7 Closeup with better view of it’s face. The legs closed up such that only the hairy parts were visible. Perfect camouflage.
#8 Yet another 3D rendition of this creature
#9 Top view, can’t tell much from it
#10 Changeable Lizard hugging a branch
#11 What you get when the lights don’t fire properly 
#12 Lynx Spider devouring a grasshopper
#13 Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus cnejus) sleeping and ridden with dew drops, but probably too small to see in this pic
#14 Acisoma panorpoides 
#15 Wanted to take a close up of a sleeping damselfly!
#16 Closest I could get before it flew off
The complete album can be viewed here.
James blogged about this trip here.
