Ok the title wasn’t meant to rhyme.. knew that some regulars found a Tree Stump Orb Weaver (Poltys sp.) and I really wanted to go take a few shots of it. As it’s name implies, it looks like a tree-stump and camouflages itself by perching itself at the tip of a branch stump. This is a nocturnal species and builds a web every evening. After a night of catching prey, it dismantles it’s web in the morning and goes back to sit on the stump of a branch. I always wondered why it doesn’t get burnt under the HOT sun… many trees at Admiralty Park got uprooted due to a storm, and this guy was stood firm at the same spot for over 2 weeks!

It was my last subject of the day but I’ll just put the pictures in front. 🙂

#1 Front view, most people won’t even notice it. It was the web that gave it away. Possibly Poltys illepidus.

#2 Closer view from the side. The legs are positioned to cuddle it’s face!

#3 Another side view but re-positioned to get a green background from the grass and trees

#4 View from the top. Looks like the face of a fox or mouse yeah?

#5 Close up on it’s face in case you still can’t see the well camouflaged dude

Thats all for the tree-stump orb weaver! Next up are some common finds in Admiralty Park.

#6 A pair of pupae of the Leopard Lacewing. They just eat and eat and eat.. won’t stop moving!

#7 Took us a while to figure out where the head was, it became obvious when one of them decided to poop!

#8 Spotted a huge Lynx Spider attacking a wasp, holding it’s prey up high

#9 It got irritated and turned around when I moved around in the bushes. The wasp was still alive, and seemed to be asking me for help. 🙁

#10 Playing with natural back-light

#11 While the rest were shooting the lynx, I found this green crab spider having an ant for it’s meal

#12 It kept running around and the wind was strong, took quite a while to get a shot after it settled down here

#13 And that’s how the face looks like!!!


The complete album can be viewed here.

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