Artur Tomaszek's Image

A tiny male sits on the abdomen of a well-camouflaged female broad-headed bark spider, waiting until she moults and is ready to mate.

Artur was lucky to encounter these broad-headed bark spiders in Khao Phra Thaeo Non-Hunting Area, Phuket, Thailand.

The spiders spend the day on the bark of a tree and go down to their webs when it gets dark.

They’re so well camouflaged against the tree bark that Artur found it hard to see them in the daytime.

He had to find them on their web at night first.

Then he came back during the day and searched nearby tree branches to get the photograph.

Female broad-headed bark spiders are usually at least three to four times larger than males.

Males often piggyback subadult females for some time, ready to mate with the female as soon as she moults to maturity.