A breed of spider has shown its ingenuity by creating a slingshot web that allows it to snare its prey in the Amazon.
One of the creepy crawlies, which are thought to be Naatlo splendida spiders, was filmed pulling back its web and then firing it to trap a fly in Madre de Dios, Peru.
Peruvian centre worker Lary Reeves spotted the 3mm insect last May.
‘It’s possible that the hairs on the spiders body are sensory, and tuned the frequency of a fly’s wing beats,’ he said.
‘When the spider senses a fly or mosquito is within reach, it releases the tension on the line, propelling itself and the web at the flying insect.’
The footage of the spider was recorded at the Tambopata Research Centre.