An extreme close-up of the Australian rufous net-casting spider's unique silk, captured by biologist Martín Ramírez and his colleagues, reveals in intricate detail the material qualities that make this spider's net so effective.

The image is the winner of this year's Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition, and it's a delightful reminder of all the wonders our planet has to offer, if you take a moment – and a microscope – to look.

Just a few microns thick, the two ropey, frilly strands of spider silk were photographed with the aid of an electron microscope.

The rufous net-casting spider, (formerly classed in the genus ), has an extraordinary method of catching prey. Unlike the broad webs cast by orb-weavers , which trap unsuspecting prey with droplets of sticky, poisonous oil

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