Newly discovered spider might have evaded scientists because it's so good at looking like a leaf


A newly discovered spider species might be so good at masquerading as a leaf that scientists simply never noticed it before now, National Geographic reports. Unlike camouflage, which is intended to make an animal look invisible, the newfound orb-weaving spider "masquerades" as a leaf in China's Yunnan rainforest in order to fool animal (and people) brains into thinking it is just a piece of foliage.
"Its disguise is so good that it might explain why so few of these spiders have been collected. Even trained scientists have a hard time spotting them," Matjaz Kuntner of the Smithsonian Institution and the Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory in Slovenia said.
So far, only two leaf-like orb-weaving spiders have been discovered in the world. Kuntner and his colleagues are currently conducting genetic research to understand if the two spiders are in fact separate species.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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