Mario Bautista
The sighting of a spider this week has piqued the interest of many Aussies thanks to its striking markings and colour, but despite there being “plenty of them” throughout many parts of the country, scientists say they are a mystery — so much so the spider doesn’t even have a name.
On Thursday a Melbourne man spotted one of the spiders among foliage in his garden and questioned what it was online, with the creature blending in remarkably well with the plant behind it. However, a spider expert told Yahoo News the spiders haven’t been “formally described by science” yet and were once thought to belong to the crab spider group, yet they show clear distinctions.
“What they know is that it is different to other species of crab spider, but it hasn’t formally been described in a research paper yet,” Emma Collins said. “They know it’s different and they haven’t named it.”
Crab spiders have incredible ‘camouflage’ abilities
People on social media were amazed by the “beautiful” spider after it was shared on Facebook. “What a ripper,” one said. “It’s so pretty,” said another while others said it was “awesome”.
Although the spider pictured likely isn’t a crab species, as suggested by some online, they do possess the same impressive camouflage abilities and they use this to their advantage for hunting.
“They’ve got the standard crab spider abilities. They’re really good at camouflage. They like to sit in their flowers, and they tend to be ambush hunters,” Collins explained.
Some crab spiders are able to change colour, similar to that of a chameleon, to blend in with its surroundings but it is unknown if this particular spider species has this ability.
“Some of them have this great ability to change colour to match the flowers that they’re living on, which is really cool,” Collins said.
The spiders are found throughout the eastern coast states including the ACT and are often missed by passersby as they simply go undetected.
After the images were shared, Aussies were full of awe for the spider, remarking at how “pretty” it was despite many of the spider enthusiasts having “no idea” what it was.
“I had thought it was a baby watermelon on a vine,” one man confessed, while another simply called it “a ripper!”.
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