Turreted Wrap-around Spider
Size about 12mm. Of course, I felt a sense of surprise when I spotted this spider. It looked like a part of the bark. I thought I knew the species and had plenty of good pictures online from my own garden. Just double the surprise when I realised while posting this spider that it was actually a distinct species. The hump on its abdomen shield gives it away. This spider is hard to photograph without focus stacking, but I tried my best to get the important parts in focus. The spider trusted its perfect camouflage 100%, did not move and was there after a few minutes of me following other animals nearby. Update 28/11/2017: A small specimen was found last week near the Cunningham gap in Southeast Queensland. I spotted something small running on a thin twig. Assuming it had gone, I double-checked with my camera. Even in magnification I did not realise first that it was a spider. It was maybe 5mm in size, a bit hard to tell for sure when wrapped. The animal did not budge any more and looked like a part of the branch. While I think it is a fascinating find, my niece's comment while rushing away was not so encouraging: 'A spider - not cool'.
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