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Ogre-faced Spider

uncommon

Ogre-faced Spider

Deinopis spinosa

Habitat
Subtropical shrublands and forest edges of the southeastern United States
Body length
16 mm
Order
Araneae · Deinopidae

Weird but real

It holds a stretchy silk net between its front legs and lunges to scoop prey out of the air mid-jump.

Why it's cool

A night hunter with the biggest eyes of any spider that also hears bugs through its legs and casts a net like a gladiator.

Photographs

Ogre-faced Spider (Deinopis spinosa) in the United States
Alex Abair · CC BY 4.0 · source
... spider :: net-casting spider ... Deinopis sp.
Dinesh Valke from Thane, India · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source