SINGAPORE – If you come across a spider web in a nature park, with a suspicious looking leaf folded and lodged like debris in its hub, you might want to peer into its leafy chamber.
You might find a common pseudo-orb weaver lurking there, said Mr Joseph Koh, retired ambassador and honorary research associate of the National Parks Board’s (NParks) National Biodiversity Centre.
Of the spider that goes by the scientific name Fecenia protensa, Mr Koh, who is best-known as Singapore’s “Spiderman”, said: “The leaves you can find on these webs are found by the spiders and brought back to their webs.”
These spiders then become both architect and seamstress.
Mr Koh said: “By sewing together the edges of the leaf, these spiders are able to create a shelter that helps them evade detection from predators – a crafty trait.”
But such crafts are not the only way spiders have learnt how to evade danger.
Launched on Oct 14, the book A Photographic Guide To Singapore Spiders, co-authored by spider experts Koh, David Court, Chris Ang and Paul Ng, details the various tactics that spiders have fine-tuned to counter predators and attract prey.
Published by NParks as a landmark guide to 790 of the more than 900 species of spiders that have been found and recorded in the country, it serves as a follow-up to A Guide To Common Singapore Spiders. This first book on spiders here was published in 1989 and detailed only 102 species.
Mr Koh, senior co-author of the book, said one of the ways amateurs can begin studying spiders is by observing the specific way that they deter predators, defend themselves and devour prey.
Take the horned bird dropping crab spider, for instance, which commonly disguises itself as bird droppings.
Mr Koh said: “By staying stationary on a leaf and even smelling like urine, the spider is often easily dismissed by potential predators.
“But if a fly catches a whiff of its faecal aroma and lands in front of it, the spider wastes no time to capture it.”
Seizing the fly with its spiny forelegs, Mr Koh said the crab spider will deliver its venomous “kiss of death”.
“The tissues of the fly will then be digested into a liquid smoothie with the enzymes in its bite,” he added.
While these crab spiders are known to “twin” their survival strategies, with its imitation of the bird droppings functioning as both an offensive and defensive strategy, some spiders are more passive and prefer to simply appear invisible or be invulnerable.
The sunda walking-mud spider masquerades as a wet lump of mud, which allows it to blend with the surroundings, while the long-horned spiny spider has come up with a vivid and elongated spiky “armour” to make it difficult to consume.
Others are even simpler, said Mr Koh, with the humble fighting spider, a common jumping spider here, relying on its quick-footedness and good vision.
To enumerate all the different ways spiders have evolved to survive in the wild would constitute an epic, but that is precisely what keeps him interested, said Mr Koh.
“I’ve been studying spiders for the past 57 years and what kept me going has always been the intellectual challenge that comes with understanding their multifold differences.
“Even after discovering more than 900 species of spiders living on our little island, I still feel like the more I learn about spiders, the more I don’t know,” he added.
And since spiders are predators sitting at the top of the food chain, there must be many more insects, other invertebrates and smaller creatures that sustain them as prey.
“To have so much more life thriving in our natural habitats… that must be something that nature lovers can celebrate in Singapore,” he said.
The book costs $50 at the Gardens Shops in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
