From color-changing chameleons to the humble stick insect, creatures in the animal kingdom have developed some weird and wacky ways to stay hidden.
But now scientists have discovered perhaps one of the strangest camouflage tactics yet.
Can you spot the second spider in this amazing image?
Scientists say they may have discovered the first case of two spiders working together to hide, but can you spot the second spider?
Deep in the tropical jungle of Yunnan province, southwestern China, researchers stumbled upon a pair of spiders that may be working together to hide.
Shi-Mao Wu of Yunnan University, who first spotted this elusive duo, says: “This may be the world’s first case of cooperative mimicry.”
If you initially had trouble seeing the second spider, you’re not alone, as even Dr. Wu says they had trouble seeing him.
It is located directly below the little brown spider.
Dr. Wu and his colleague Jiang-Yun Gao discovered this strange behavior while trekking through the tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna, near the border between China and Laos.
He first saw a male Thomisus guangxicus spider resting on the flower of a Hoya pandurata, a plant that grows on tea trees.
But it wasn’t until he looked closer that he could see the much larger female underneath.
‘When I first observed the male spider, I did not observe the female spider; they have successfully deceived my eyes.” he told NewScientist.
The researchers discovered this behavior in a male and female crab spider living in the tropical rainforest of Xishunagbanna, southern China
In the dense tropical rainforest of Yunnan Province (pictured), crab spiders use their incredible camouflage to hide from both predators and prey
Spiders from the Thomisidae family, often called crab spiders, are known for their incredible camouflage abilities.
Crab spiders often live on or around flowers and use bright colors and patterns that blend in with the petals.
Some crab spiders even have the ability to change color so they can blend in better with their surroundings.
Like fierce ambush predators, the spider simply waits for an unsuspecting pollinator to land on the flower before grabbing and biting its prey.
However, these male and female Thomisus guangxicus spiders seem to take their camouflage to a whole new level.
What makes these spiders so difficult to spot, the researchers suggest, is that they work together to look like a single flower.
Dr. Wu hypothesizes that the smaller male mimics the pistil, the colored organs in the center of the flower, while the larger female mimics the white petals.
The spiders were found on a Hoya pandurata flower (photo). They believe the male mimics the darker center, while the female resembles the white outer petals
Crab spiders, like the flower crab spider, use their camouflage to blend in with flower petals from which they can pop out and grab visiting pollinators
While both may stand out on their own, when put together they can perfectly match the look of the flower.
If this is true, it would be the first time such cooperative mimicry has ever been observed.
In their paper, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Dr Wu and his colleague write: ‘The complex color of the flower is only consistent as a whole when individual spiders of both sexes are present.
‘This could be an example of ‘cooperation’ expanding the niche of both females and males in mimicry systems, and cooperating individuals may have improved survival and predation efficiency.’
However, not every scientist is convinced of this theory.
Gabriele Greco, who researches spider behavior and ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, says there are simpler explanations.
Mr Greco told NewScientist: ‘It is very difficult to determine the nature of the observed behavior.’
Since it is very common for male spiders to sit on top of females during mating season, this behavior may not have much to do with camouflage.
Mr Greco adds: ‘The simpler explanation could be a simple interaction related to courtship and mating’