The net casting spider - Deinopis subrufa

Not only is she adept at making velcro nets to cast over her prey, she also has night vision better than that of a cat or an owl! The night vision retina membranes are so sensitive to light in fact, that they are destroyed by sunlight and she has to regrow these every night!
This female net casting spider - Deinopis subrufa, has eight eyes, a pair of which are enormously enlarged facing forwards. They are hidden below the brow but for those who manage to look into these big black eyes, they will no doubt, fall in love with this creature.
Her large eyes provide outstanding low-light night vision. Their compound lenses with greatly expanded area of membranes contain photoreceptors with extraordinary light sensitivity. Having an F number of 0.58, means they can concentrate available light more efficiently than a cat - F 0.9, or an owl - F 1.1! The image is focussed onto a large, light-receptive retinal membrane. However, lacking an iris which limits the amount of light entering the eye, means that the sun destroys these photoreceptor membranes, which the spider regenerates every night to hunt.
Besides regrowing their eyes, net-casting spiders also have a unique way of catching their pray, by weaving a rectangular, postage-stamp-sized web, made with wool-like, entangling silk threads, having the effect of velcro. Once the web is ready, the spider deposits dots of white faeces on its surface, acting as aiming points. Hanging head down from a trapeze of silk, usually in low vegetation, she holds her net with her front pair of legs, waiting and watching patiently with her big eyes, for her unsuspecting prey to move across the white aiming spots. When an insect or another spider passes by, she stretches her web to two or three times its resting size and casts it over her victim. As she bites and injects her venom to immobilise it and wrap it up nice and tight, to slowly liquidise and slurp its contents, she may already begin to make a new net for her next meal. Her food preferences are not restricted to cockroaches, ants, other spiders and moths. With her sensitivity to air currents trapping aerial prey is entirely usual.
This footage was captured on the 17th of December 2022 at Wilkesdale, QLD, Australia.
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References:
australian.museum/learn/anima...
southernforestlife.net/happen...

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Deinopis is by far my favourite genus

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👀💞

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Beauty predator

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Isn't it :)