i watched it land and still had a hard time finding it!
One of my fave species to find, and was really happy when one of my previous ones was shared as observation of the day. This one was nicely showing how it tangles into the moss. But also kind of wanted to share as this one of the most colourful Algidia viridata ssp. bicolor that I have seen so far. The red and yellow front body spines is something I havent seen on others.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/365688467
Can contrast the colours with https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/337191626
Proving that you don’t always have to match the color of your background to be well-camouflaged. Check out this tree hopper which looks just like a thorn. I believe it to be a Wide-footed Tree Hopper.
A classic.
It’s interesting to see though. We often encounter them here in parks and forests, flying conspicuously over flowers, green grass and meadows where their camouflage seems inadequate. Sometimes we forget that in the long term of evolution, our present snapshot is not what a species has evolved for.
Parallelia bistriaris (Maple Looper Moth)
Body and legs are fully visible at a side profile - resting on the dead leaf nearest the bottom of the photo.
I’ve noticed something odd about my reactions to this thread. If I can see the animal and think the camouflage is clever, I give it a like. If I struggle to make it out, I get bored and move on without liking it. It might just be me, but if other people are behaving in a similar way, those animals that are really winning at camouflage, might not be winning the kudos on here; I’m sure they won’t care about that though, they’ll be the ones that are still alive.
And for a something a little different, here’s an example of failing at camouflage: When you’re a bright yellow spider and you try to hide in a bright purple flower!
(Observation here if interested: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/395780216).
Do you think it is one of the ones that goes a little clearish as an adult*? It is a juvenile, no?
Maybe it is impatient to be camouflaged?
*I almost never see the clearish ones until I am right on top of them or going through photos later and spot them / parts of them.
(Memo from the Obvious Desk: my spider knowledge, crab spiders included, is abysmal.)