Photo: Robert Whyte

Photo: Robert Whyte

Photo: Robert Whyte

Habitat: Australia
Status: Not Listed
This out-of-this-world spider actually lives down under on the continent of Australia. It’s a Green Orbweaver that goes by the scientific name of  Araneus praesignis… but that’s just fancy talk. What it should really be called is the Alien Butt Spider because, well, check out this things tushie! Those false eye spots it has would definitely be a distraction to any would-be predator that’s on its ass (hah, get it!). 
These guys are also what’s known as “live leaf” spiders. By day they hide in a silken retreat that some may use as a nesting chamber. They use the silk to pull the leaf into a twisted fold creating a little burrito nest to hang out in. The cool part is that at night the Alien Butt Spiders will spin a conventional web to trap bugs and good things like that. Nature is just too cool sometimes.