14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers have recently discovered two new spider species that appear to have a fondness towards building statues, or effigies, of themselves. These spiders are able to use very small twigs, dead insect husks and a variety of other debris to construct large-scale, anatomically correct artificial arthropods.
As the video above shows, these spiders create a larger scale version of themselves, complete with correct number of legs, and with their bellies and cephalothoraxes – parts of the spider body containing both the thorax and the head – properly differentiated, io9 reports.
Definitely one of the most interesting things about these two new spider species is that they have developed nearly 17,700 kilometers (11,000 miles) away from each other. The first was found by entomologist Phil Torres in Peru, while the second was found by entomologist Larry Reeves in the Philippines.
An interesting bit of trivia about these spiders is that they apparently like to spend a lot of time inside the statues they create. From time to time, they vibrate their webs by moving their bodies, so that the much larger arthropod appears to be alive. Scientists are not yet sure about why this behavior occurs.