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<\/div>A brown male Thomisus guangxicus spider, centre, and a pale amber female female just below, among Hoya pandurata flowers<\/p>\n
Shi-Mao Wu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
A species of spider found in China may have evolved so that a male-female pair together resembles a flower, helping them blend in with their background.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis may be the world\u2019s first case of cooperative mimicry,\u201d says Shi-Mao Wu at Yunnan University, who made the observation with his colleague Jiang-Yun Gao<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spiders from the Thomisidae family, also known as crab spiders, are ambush predators that usually live on or near flowers.<\/p>\n They are known for their great camouflage abilities, which prevent them from being spotted by their prey or predators. Some species can even change their colour to match that of the flower they are sitting on.<\/p>\n Wu and Gao were in a tropical rainforest in Yunnan province in south-west China when a male crab spider of the Thomisus guangxicus<\/em> species caught Wu\u2019s attention. The spider was sitting on a flower of Hoya pandurata<\/em>, an plant that lives on the forest\u2019s ancient tea trees.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first observed the male spider, I did not observe the female spider,\u201d says Wu. Only when he got closer did he notice that the male spider was lying on the back of a female. \u201cThey successfully deceived my eyes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The researchers hypothesise that the smaller and darker male might mimic the pistil \u2013 the female organs in the centre of the flower \u2013 while the female mimics the fused petals.<\/p>\n They only match the appearance of the flower when individual spiders of both sexes come together, the researchers say.<\/p>\n