AN INTERESTING ARACHNID RARITY THAT I FOUND SOME MONTHS AGO
When I first saw the little thing from a distance ...
... I thought that it's just a bird dropping. When I came closer, it looked too structured and symmetric to be that shit. Because of the two spots that looked like eyes, the first thought was: This must be the head of some unknown, maybe even alien, lifeform.
Through the macro lens, and from a different angle the perception changed considerably. What looked like the head, now resembled a caramel candy, and minuscule folded legs were visible.
When I touched it, the arachnid showed its legs and pedipalps, so it finally, unmistakably looked like a spider. Although, definitely like a bizarre little spider.
(Enlargeable)
Cyrtarachne ixoides is commonly known as the pretty uncommon, rare spider with the long, descriptive name - White-banded Bird-dropping Spider. This species is found sparsely in various parts of the Mediterranean, in southern Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, and always in small numbers, as a rarity. Interestingly, besides in the Mediterranean region, the Cyrtarachne ixoides can be seen also in Madagascar.
The spider obviously mimics the bird droppings, and quite successfully so. It recreates also the moisture of a fresh, uninviting dropping.
It's an orb-weaving spider from the Araneidae family, but I never saw it on its web. I saw this species only two times in my life. Three years ago was the first time. Those old photographs, taken with the simple compact camera, no macro lens involved, appeared last year here on HIVE, in a generic post about flora and fauna of my area.
This summer I came across this amazing little spider again, equipped with better tools to get more crisp and detailed pictures.
Today, I mean some minutes ago, while writing this post, I also find out that the spiders from this genus (Cyrtarachne), differently from other typical orb-weavers (Araneidae) build their orbs horizontally.
One article states that "The ecology of this species is very poorly known. It seems to prefer scrublands and uncultivated hedges
where it lives on vegetation"
I found it on reeds at the edge of the meadow, not far from the sea.
Nearby, on the vegetation under the tall reeds, I photographed this female of the Pisaura mirabilis spider that was holding its cocoon.
And that' it. A quick look at some summer stuff encapsulated in the photographs. As always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE END.
That is a nice find, the orb web weaver family are some of my favourite spiders. Do you get Kite spiders in your country?
Unfortunately no. They look fantastic :) but they don't live here.
Wow! At first I was confused to see your photography whether it is insect! Photography of an insect is extraordinary to be true. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of insect before.
That's a really interesting spider. It's so impressive how creature camouflage themselves. Fascinating. To me it looks like a happy mushroom, like the ones from the old super Mario games lol 😆
Hehehe :D Great observation. It really looks like one of those video game things.
I was surprised to read it, maybe an alien. 😁😁
But it looks like the spider is very cute, it has small and beautiful legs🥰🥰🤗🤗
Yes :) it's a cute small spider.
🥰🥰🤗🤗
a spider that looks like a turtle
True :) It looks a bit like a minuscule turtle.
An interesting spider. 😀This is the first time I see it.
:)
It's crazy how much variation there can be in the very simple body plan of a spider. When you said it was an arachnid and upon looking at the first picture, I thought it was the distended body of a tick that had gorged itself recently! I knew some lepidoptera larvae camouflaged as droppings but never heard of a spider doing so. Very cool! And even more so since it is rare!
True. Many animals and plants have surprising shapes and behaviors. A lot of mimicries around. Exploring the small details in nature gives a bit of Science fiction feeling, like being on some far-out planet where things are pretty strange.
This little spider looks very beautiful and cool and this is my first time seeing this kind of little spider...
That is a bizarre looking spider and aptly named.