Invisible Spider (Drapetisca socialis)

"Now you see it. Now you still see it - just"!

D. socialis is a very small spider (upto 3mm) with a mottled body and striped legs that provide effective camouflage on the bark of a variety of trees, (predominently Beech) where, with close inspection, it can often be found seemingly resting on the tree surface.

This is however, highly deceptive.

In fact, females construct a barely visible web, very finely threaded, covering an area of about 6 x 4 cm2, which lies almost flat against the tree surface. It is on this web, rather than the tree surface itself, where the spiders actually perch. It's also where females will wait to be approached by a suitable male for courtship to be initiated.

Reasonably common and widespread, adults are most evident in the autumn, but like this individual, can be found right through to early January or even later, with some suspected of overwintering successfully.