#macracantha

Longhorn Spiny Orbweaver (Macracantha arcuata), family Araneidae, Singapore

Hasselt’s spiny spider, Macracantha hasselti, Araneidae

They are very small spider, look like plant seeds or thorns hanging on a spider web for human eye. They look very sharp but actually harmless to humans

This is Macracantha arcuata, or the long-horned orbweaver. The females of this species possess a pair of large 'spines' that grow from their abdomen. As the wildlife photographer David Weiller wrote, "One of the functions of this orb-weaver spider's unusual giant stiff horns protuding [sic] from its back is probably so that predators (such as birds and lizards) will have a very hard time trying to swallow it."

Like most members of the family Araneidae, their eyesight is rather lacking. They instead rely on other senses to navigate the world, such as their ability to sense vibrations in their web.

The organism itself can come in a variety of shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. There are even some that are white or black!

I'm going to be honest, I don't have much else to say about this organism. I just think it looks rather silly.

Longhorn Spiny Orbweaver (Macracantha arcuata), family Araneidae, Singapore

One of Pauli Kidd's photos from Kerala, of one of the many orbweavers in the Gasteracanthinae subfamily that have spikes on their abdomen - in fact, that's what Gasteracanthinae basically means- 'spiky butt'.

One of a number of species named after Johan Conrad van Hasselt (1797-1823), a Dutch physician and natural historian who sent thousands of specimens from Java back to the University of Leiden before dying of exhaustion.

The spider is found from India to Indonesia.