Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
moths( Chrysiridia spp),whichlookjustlikeswallowtailsdecoratedwithemeralds.Avery
close relative is found in the Amazon rainforest.
CURIOUS ARACHNIDS
Len de Beer & John Roff
LOOKINGLIKE... You're walking through a patch offorest and stop to photograph
an unusual flower, when you notice some thoughtless bird has relieved itself on a leaf
youwereabouttoleanon.You'reabouttowipeitoffwhenyouhaveahunchthatyou
should look closer. What looked like a bird dropping turns out to be a fine specimen
of Phrynarachne -aspecialisedcrabspiderthatspendsitstimesittingontopofaleaf
looking like poo. Some even emulate the scent of urine and faeces.
Why? Flies delight in landing on faeces and other choice decomposing substances;
birddroppingsareafinesourceofnutritionforforestflies.Bird-dungcrabspiderslike
Phrynarachne take full advantage of this, waiting on leaves or other prominent sur-
faces for hungry flies to come and investigate the latest tempting blob of excrement.
Once the fly is within reach, the spider seizes it with lightning speed and administers
a deadly bite.
A FREAK BACK FROM THE DEAD In 1881 a spider hunter with the charming
monikerofOctaviusPickard-Cambridgewasstaringata'fossil'thathadcomecrawl-
ing out of the substrate as if to proclaim: 'Hah! You thought I had gone!' in much the
same way that Prof J L B Smith would later stare at the resurrected coelacanth as it
received instant worldwide recognition as a living fossil.
The archaea - or pelican spider - has languished in obscurity, a victim of its small
size, northern hemisphere bias and irrational arachnophobia. The archaeid spiders
with their giraffe necks and cannibalistic natures were first described from Baltic am-
ber in 1854. Imagine Octavius's rapture when 27 years later, on an expedition to the
dripping escarpments of the red isle, archaea tiptoed back into the list of species with
which humans are privileged to share the earth.
'Bizarre' seems too mild an adjective for an arachnid that does not build a web, has
massivelyelongated,spikedjawsthatcanextendoutwardatrightangles,andstilt-like
legsthatenableittohoveroveritsprey.Thefactthatthevictimsareexclusivelyother
spiders just adds to the archaea's mystique. Living archaeids have only been found on
the southern landmasses of Madagascar, Africa and Australia, yet more evidence that
these places were once a continuous continent. Is it a coincidence that both archaea
and the coelacanth are associated with an island renowned for the freakier designer
labels of creation that so fascinate us?
 
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