Whoa. Had never heard of these spiders until today. Check out this page for more amazing images.
“Assassin spiders were first discovered as Baltic Amber fossils in the 1800’s. It wasn’t until 30 years after their initial discovery that these spiders were found living in the forests of Madagascar…. The bizarre appearance of these spiders illustrates the power of evolution. Spider bodies consist of two main segments, an abdomen and a cephalothorax, which contains the legs, eyes, mouth and jaws. In most spiders the cephalothorax is a rounded plate, but in assassin spiders this plate and the jaws (chelicerae) are greatly elongated giving the spider the appearance of a ‘neck’ and ‘head,’ almost making them look bird-like (they are called pelican spiders in Australia).
