About Drapetisca socialis (Sundevall, 1833)
Drapetisca socialis (Sundevall, 1833) is a spider species that belongs to the family Linyphiidae. It is distributed across most of the Palearctic region, and is widely distributed throughout Britain and other areas of Northern Europe. Among the small spiders that make up this family, Drapetisca socialis is an especially tiny species. Excluding its legs, its total body length is only 3 millimeters. This spider is typically found resting motionless on a delicate web that it builds on tree trunks. Its mottled body, banded legs, and extremely small size combine to make it very difficult to spot, which gives it the common name "invisible spider". This species spins webs from silk so fine that the web itself appears invisible; the web can only be seen when light hits it at the correct angle. Because the web is nearly undetectable, the spider often appears to be resting directly on tree bark, but in reality all eight of its legs are positioned on its invisible web.
