DAY NINETEEN: WRAP-AROUND SPIDERS
[REAL PHOTOS HERE]
Making the internet rounds none too long ago, the "wrap-around" spider is yet another group from Australia, the genus Dolophones. Like the twig spider we discussed the other day, they actually only camouflage themselves during the day, but "wake up" and hunt at night, in this case by building a fairly conventional web. But when the sun rises again, the extremely flat, concave and flexible spider locates the nearest small branch and fits herself smoothly against it, not only difficult to spot but difficult to pry off from her hiding place without dextrous enough appendages, which you understand if you've ever tried to pick a coin off of a floor without using your fingernails.
This will sadly have to be the shortest entry in Spiderween, because Dolophenes is otherwise like any other orb-weaver...but that wrap-around trick was just too cool not to include here.
