Cape Tribulation Daintree Rainforest

I was just out photographing cycad cones for a new entry, when I happened upon this bizarre creature. It would appear to have eight legs, with the forelegs raised completely over the animal, presumably in an expression of defense. The noodle-like embellishments on the ventral surface of these legs (at least) appear to add a degree of emphasis to the expression.

Tucked under the bulk of the animal, between the short leg in the foreground (pointing towards the bottom left corner of the image) and the bulbous mass aligned with the central vein of the leaf, is another appendage that looks suspiciously like palps. This would imply that the head of the animal is most proximal to the top left corner of the image and that the rear legs have been hyper-extended up and over the animal’s back.

The total length of the animal, legs excluded, is less than 4 mm.

Any ideas?

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 2:24 pm and is filed under fauna. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.