I took the picture below last summer in an area of exposed sand on Deas Island, near the Fraser River, outside Vancouver. I was collecting a small tub of sand to use as a substrate for some scorpions I had just acquired. While on my knees scooping up sand I spotted this amazing spider. I honestly don’t know how I saw it...this was the most amazing example of natural camouflage I have ever seen. The way this spider just disappears against the sand background is astounding. It helps that this critter was also a little dusty.
As far as I can tell this species is an orange and black wolf spider (
Arctosa perita). However, I also read that this species is common in Europe. So I am a little dubious about the identification—unless the species has been introduced to British Columbia.
Cheers,
EC
www.macrocrutters.wordpress.com
invisible spider darker hard pass_filtered by
ernie.cooper, on Flickr
