Male net casting spider (Deinopis subrufa), also called Ogre faced spider, shows huge, club-like palps used for sperm transfer.
Male net-casting spider (genus Deinopis), also known as the Ogre-faced spider, shows its huge, club-like palps (the first short leg-like limbs) that resemble boxing gloves and are used for sperm transfer. The male is smaller than the female and has a more slender abdomen. Very difficult to see because they are camouflaged to look like a twig, net-casting spiders are unique among spiders in weaving a rectangular net from silk which they hold and throw over insect prey. The web is light blue in colour and about half the size of a postage stamp. It consists of cribellate silk (also known as "hackled band" silk) which is placed as a thick, sticky overlay onto two strands of ordinaray silk. The long, slender legs when at rest are aligned in pairs to form an X. Photographed on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Size: 5043px × 3338px
Location: Jamberoo New South Wales Australia
Photo credit: © Nic van Oudtshoorn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: arachnid, arachnids, australia, australian, casting, deinopis, face, faced, invertebrate, invertebrates, male, males, net, net-casting, netcasting, ogre, palp, palps, sperm, spider, spiders, subrufa, transfer
