The Most Beautifully Terrifying Spiders You Never Knew Existed

Wow! Ick. Oooh. Whaaaaaaat. No. No. NOPE. That pretty much summarizes our reactions while looking at these incredible macro shots of spiders photographed by Nicky Bay who lives and works in Singapore. The boundless biodiversity found on the country’s 64 islands includes a vast array of insects and arachnids, many of which Bay has painstakingly documented up close with his macro photography and published on his blog and Flickr account.

Despite being creepy crawly spiders, it’s impossible to deny the endless creativity employed by evolution to create such amazing creatures. It’s hard to believe these lifeforms came from the same planet let alone the same country. For instance the Mirror Spider has an abdomen of reflective panels that glitter like a disco ball, or the various colors of Ladybird Mimic spiders that are almost indistinguishable from the insects they are camouflaged to look like. But there’s also the more frightening Two-Tailed Spider or the Bird Dung Spider that would have us scrambling for a frying pan and some bug spray before we would even consider picking up a camera.

Nadia Drake over at Wired put together an informative gallery of Bay’s work along with a bit more detail than you’ll find here. All images below courtesy of the photographer.

Mirror Spider / Thwaitesia sp. / Singapore

Long Horned Orb Weaver / Macracantha arcuata / Singapore

Bird Dung Spider / Pasilobus sp. / Singapore   Ladybird Mimic / Paraplectana sp. / Singapore   Eight-Spotted Crab Spider / Platythomisus octomaculatus / Singapore   Tree Stump Orb Weaver / Poltys illepidus / Singapore   Net-Casting Ogre-Face Spider / Deinopis sp. / Singapore   Ant Mimic Jumping Spider / Myrmarachne plataleoides / Singapore   Wide-Jawed Viciria Spiderlings / Viciria praemandibularis / Singapore   And don't forget, if you're looking for a piece of original art to hang on your walls, check out artFido HERE!