For many years, I’ve been staring hard at little pieces of shit in the forest, learning not to casually dismiss any piles of excrement as they could turn out to be devious little dung spiders, sometimes also known as bird dropping spiders.
Living its life as a pile of poop may sound shitty, but the facade is an ingenious predatory and defensive tactic.
** Predatory tactic
Excrement from birds, lizards, and other vertebrates is an excellent source of food and nutrients for some insects, especially flies and bugs. Dung spiders capitalize on this attraction with their crap-like exterior and reinforce their deception by remaining motionless for hours, just like a true piece of poop.
It had been popularly spread on the internet that these bird dung spiders not only looked like shit but also smelt like shit. A human may not easily detect the scent, and there has not been any objective evidence of such a notion.
Hence, in 2015, a group of scientists from Hubei University, China, performed a series of experiments to prove that volatile chemical cues helped the spider repel predators and attract prey.
** Defence tactic
The crappy disguise also protects the spider from birds and other predators that generally would not consider eating its poop.
In this photo series, I have consolidated some of the common, poop-like genera of spiders from Southeast Asia (primarily Singapore): Pasilobus and Phrynarachne. Cyrtarachne had traditionally been called bird-dropping spiders, so there would be a brief mention at the end of the post. Spiders from these genera are mimics of poop / faeces / dung / excrement / shit / bird dropping to various degrees.
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#1 Ultraviolet Gem
Interestingly, the abdominal warts and muscular depressions appeared to fluoresce brightly under ultraviolet. It might have served as an additional attractant for unsuspecting prey!
#2 Peanut Dung Crab Spider
This dung mimic crab spider does not weave any web, and relies heavily on attracting prey to it. Ambush predation is typical for spiders in the crab spider family, Thomisidae. Locally, we have been calling this the peanut dung spider because of its resemblance to sticky peanut bars.
#3 Face To Face
Anterior view shows the face of the predator where the legs are more obvious while the poop illusion is less convincing.
#4 Splatter Poop Dung Spider
This dung spider specializes in creating a “splatter” of silk, and sits on it, simulating the white stain caused by the bird-droppings when splashed on a leaf. This species is probably Phrynarachne decipiens or one close to it. We found this species in Borneo Bootcamp 2015, and hope to see it again in the next Bootcamp!
#5 Using Silk To Simulate Poop Splatter
A distinctive species, this is probably Phrynarachne ceylonica. It doesn’t really look like bird dung on its own, but the disguise is more believable when it sits on its radiating nest which looked like a bird dropping splatter.
#6 King Of Poop
Most dung-mimics sport a wet and lumpy surface to resemble fresh bird excrement. At rest, they draw their legs close to their bodies to conceal its shape and would lie motionless for hours in the day. This is probably the best poop-mimic, hence the title “King of Poop”.
#7 Younger Poop
Younger specimens may come in various shades of brown. The easiest way to differentiate real poop from a spider, is that real poop would never be symmetrical while spiders should show distinct symmetry.
#8 The Real Poop
This shit is real. Not a spider. Just to highlight the knobbly, wet appearance of fresh poop!
#9 Dung Crab Spider
This dung spider was found in Singapore, and looks superficially like the previous peanut dung spider. It lacks the extreme lumpy surface on its abdomen, but bears numerous tubercles, most notably the two posterior projections.
#10 Splatter Poop Dung Spider
Another different color morph of this species.
#11 Real Splatter Poop
Another piece of poop for comparison. Unfortunately I kept forgetting to take photos of the poop splatter.
#12 Golden Poop Spider
Beautiful colors for a poop-mimic! Locally, some of us called this the bak-zhang (rice dumpling) spider.
#13 Rear View Of The Golden Poop Spider
Not all species of Pasilobus are as lumpy as the one described earlier. Some are smoother but there is little doubt that they are dung-mimics.
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