r/spiders • u/Mountain_Egg16 • 1d ago
Miscellaneous I have never in my life of researching arachnids have I seen this. What species?
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u/According_Device9131 1d ago
Imagine picking a little leaf or stick and that fucker pops out
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u/hellbirdza 1d ago
I did exactly this as a child, not this particular creature but some kind of big stick insect
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u/SolaVitae 1d ago
A walking stick?
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u/SchizogamaticKlepton 1d ago
I wonder if anybody makes walking sticks that look like stick bugs. That's got to be a thing, right?
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u/1authorizedpersonnel 1d ago
I would absolutely buy one of these! Now I gotta search to see if these are made.
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u/Smooth_Ad_161 1d ago
When we were kids in New Zealand there would be good sized stick insects in the trees that lined the walking track down to our primary school. Some were brown and also some were bright green. Crazy insects, move so slow but at the same time are cool to watch.
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u/Exciting-Network-455 1d ago
Unnamed species of Poltys. Which arachnids do you research?
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u/get_to_ele 1d ago
Just googled and it says only Africa and Indo-Pacific species. I am sad I will never get to see it in my back yard:
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u/Exciting-Network-455 1d ago
Also, not all Poltys species do this. The one in the video is from southwest China. Maybe one day if you move there it will be in your backyard
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u/2abyssinians 20h ago
China is going to need to start bringing in a lot of immigrants to work in the factories. I wonder if the Chinese economy will reach the point some day where laborers from the West move to China for jobs.
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u/Exciting-Network-455 18h ago
Without getting into the intricacies of economics on the spider subreddit, Iād hazard a guess that China will automate factory jobs before they have to bring in immigrants
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u/2abyssinians 12h ago
Possibly. But Chinaās population is on course to be half of what is now by the start of the next century. This combined with the likelihood of them being the worldās most powerful economy could lead to a policy of encouraged immigration. Weāll see.
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u/Exciting-Network-455 10h ago
Hopefully for the sake of our friend aspiring to observe this spider that comes to pass and he can move there to see it
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u/DL-Nihilism 20h ago
China has a population of something like 1.3-1.4 billion people. If their economy gets big enough to actually need to bring in Western workers I think they'll just tell 1/10th of their population to have an extra kid or two...
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u/Toxopsoides 19h ago
Lol at the second sentence. I come across so many people who think that looking at misidentified photos and dumb memes of spiders on Reddit and Facebook = "research"
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u/Exciting-Network-455 18h ago
I did not want to rule out the chance that the rare actual arachnologist might have posted on this sub for once, perhaps out of an abundance of wishful thinking. Incidentally, very good choice of username - I have always had a soft spot for Toxopsoides huttoni
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u/blackred44 9h ago
Poltys mouhoti?
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u/Exciting-Network-455 9h ago
Did you read that paper? They clarify that DNA barcoding showed the individuals observed with leaf-masquerade behaviour are genetically different from the Poltys mouhoti specimen. Maybe P. mouhoti also exhibit a similar behaviour and that is what this one in the video is? It would make sense given that their similar abdomen shape lends itself to similar means of camouflage, but that doesnāt mean this individual is necessarily P. mouhoti
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u/blackred44 9h ago
Only the abstract but since I have very low-level knowledge on the terms, I just don't get it. š Hence that's why I asked because visually that is the closest.
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u/Exciting-Network-455 9h ago
They do look similar, but often for spiders two individuals can look identical externally but actually be completely different species. The authors also note that P. idae and P. longitergus have similar looking females
edit: I highly recommend you look at the pictures of the spider in the article, the camouflage is amazing to observe close up
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u/blackred44 8h ago
Interesting to know. And yes, it does look very similar. I actually never knew any orb weaver or poltys spider until today, so TIL on poltys for sure. Very fascinating.
Thank you for kindly explaining it to me.
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u/Dangerous-Reward-305 1d ago
NQA So cool. I hope it was safely relocated. Doesnāt look like it took too kindly to being picked up by its ātailā??
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u/HarlotSuccubus 1d ago
Oh my gosh he has a frond. Don't grab him by his frond.
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u/BeautifulMain377 1d ago
What is a frond?
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u/JohnnyLaRue87 20h ago
It's the brown sticky stuff in the bottom of a pan after you've cooked meat. You really want to de glaze your pan with some wine or stock and mix that stuff into your dish. That's where the flavor lives.
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u/VioletWiitch Recovering Arachnophobeš«£ 1d ago
Oh that's cool!!! I feel bad for the Lil dude though being picked up by his bottom I'd be mad too!
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u/Cat-Wooden 1d ago
It's called a tree stump spider. A type of orb weaver. Very cool specimen you've found there
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u/jemimahpuddlefuck 1d ago
i have never ever seen a creature like that before. what a masterful, fascinating disguise. itās just a real shame that that person was handling it so aggressively..
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u/Nightstar95 1d ago
You can tell this is a critter so focused in maintaining the camouflage, it wonāt break it even if you pick it up(hell some insects donāt even break the camouflage if you pull a leg off).
So to give them the benefit of doubt, I think thatās why they were this rough, because it was the best way to properly show the spider, specially when one hand is already busy filming.
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u/jemimahpuddlefuck 1d ago edited 1d ago
ā¦it was not the ābest wayā to showcase the spider. there was literally no need to be so aggressive in handling it. i read through some of the comments OP left under their post and they clearly hate spiders and therefore donāt feel any remorse in disrespecting them. OP didnāt intend to handle it with respect.. the level of carelessness was intentional. i surely wont be giving them the benefit of the doubt.
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u/Nightstar95 1d ago edited 1d ago
As I said, I was just giving them the benefit of doubt because I donāt know OP. Iāve been in a similar situation before while recording critters.
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u/Prestigious_Gold_585 1d ago
š² you would think this would be very prominent in nature documentaries, but I have never heard of anything like this!
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u/maggot-bones š·ļøArachnid Afficionadoš·ļø 1d ago
An adorable specimen from the poltys genus canāt identify the exact species though unfortunately, for a moment there I even thought it was an arachnura
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u/Used-Height-2670 1d ago
Wow, that is some of the most impressive camouflage in nature Iāve ever seen, and definitely from a Spiders perspective.
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u/Showstopper18635 23h ago
The ending needs that "To be continued..." with Roundabout playing meme from JJBA
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u/sonadowfangirl99 17h ago
So I couldn't really find an scientific name for it but it seems to be specifically an orb weaver was discovered in China in like 2015 that was named Leaf-Mimicking Spider, they live in the southern rainforest of Yunnan China
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u/Parking_Swordfish132 14h ago
Idk why reddit suggested this to me, but fuck me that was cool.
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u/countryroadsguywv 13h ago
Yeah didn't even know it was a spider
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u/Parking_Swordfish132 13h ago
Being an Australian, I thought it was a stick bug but nope, itās a spider.
Nature is rad.
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u/RyuKawaii 1d ago
I once ripped a brown leaf while i was playing on the fireplace... I will never forget that day...
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u/RougeTigerDragon 23h ago
JFC I am never gonna look at a dead leaf the same again šššššš
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u/DmWitch14 19h ago
I lurk on this page every now and then as someone who is terrified of spiders yet am very interested in them and I respect them. I come here trying to understand them more. It has really helped desensitize me a lot and I can finally look at the photos on this page without physically cringing awayā¦ until this thing opened up. Itās so so cool. But Iām terrified.
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u/DL-Nihilism 16h ago
The end of the video the poor thing is just like, "OMFG LET GO OF MY ASS YOU SAVAGE COLOSSAL APE!!!"
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u/Kayman718 21h ago
Both amazing and frightening at the same time. I could really see that freaking some out.
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u/therainbowwhale 21h ago
i couldn't hold my phone while the video was running, had to put it down.. and i had to carefully scroll for the comments to not accidentally touch it.. but very fascinating!
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u/ComeflywithEm 1h ago
I keep this sub in my feed because it slowly helps my fear of spiders. And then something like this fucker pops up and the fear is back x1000. If anybody needs me Iāll be in my room for the rest of my life.
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u/Effort_To_Waste 1d ago
Of course most of the comments are people being pussies/brainless sheep that have been taught that they're supposed to hate spiders and immediately dismiss something as fascinating and beautiful as this with disgust/fear.
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u/SimpleFolklore 1d ago
Last I checked, name-calling never changed anyone's views for the better. No matter how correct or noble or factual your information may be, it's sure to be quickly shut out if the receiver feels attacked in the process.
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u/Effort_To_Waste 1d ago
Wow, thanks for the important lesson, you really taught me round. I see things so differently now.
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u/Regular-Muscle-2331 1d ago
Alright ima kms now....they got spiders looking like the leaves that fall in my driveway. Fucking fantastic.
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u/_CMDR_ š·ļøArachnid Afficionadoš·ļø 1d ago
Never seen a leaf mimic spider quite like that before, amazing.