Plenty of animals are masters of camouflage, but the genus Poltys needs a special shout-out. Pay close attention or you’ll undoubtedly mistake these strange spiders for a crunchy leaf or a fallen twig. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Poltys is a genus of orb-weaver spiders , a family known for their ability to craft spiral wheel-shaped webs. Many species are nocturnal, constructing or repairing their webs at sunset to catch flying insects during the night. They often eat up their webs in the early morning, making daytime relatively quiet and potentially dangerous.

To stay hidden from predators during the sunlight hours, P oltys has uniquely adapted anatomical features that make these spiders look like twigs,

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