Mirror spider - side view, Andasibe, Madagascar

My first mirror spider! (Genus: Thwaitesia. I only once saw these online from a famous macro photographer from Singapore. They are much smaller than I expected and quite tricky to get entirely into focus.

They are called mirror spiders due to the reflective plates on their abdomen. This one surely is in the genus Thwaitesia. Some candidates known to occur in Madagascar:

- Thwaitesia argenteosquamata (Lenz, 1891) (Madagascar)
- Thwaitesia pulcherrima Butler, 1882 (Madagascar)

Not certain of the species yet, documentation is very limited.

comments (7)

Christine Young

Lion

Yes! This is the one I was remembering from your travel blog. Love it! It's so amazing! Congrats :). Posted one month ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks! Took me 30 mins to find anything as I thought they were called "jewel spiders". That was wrong. Then I tried "diamond spider", "triangle spider" and countless variations to just get one picture to look like this. So yeah, mirror spider :) Posted one month ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    Well, it's a lovely mirror spider :) Posted one month ago

Patomarazul

Lion

A jewel! Posted one month ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks :) Posted one month ago

Albert Kang

Lion

Happy for you that you found one in Madagascar.
They are challenge to get good shots of. Did you try to get much closer shot or super macro to showcase the 'mirrored abdomen'? Posted one month ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  The current shot you see is as close as I could get and is already a crop :)
  Indeed hard to capture, and I was under time pressure. Posted one month ago

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