I have been trying to find Scytodes along local trails for a while but to no avail, unlike bunnies who easily spot the genus due to their common affinity for rude behaviour. So it was a pleasant surprise to encounter this cheerful specimen that landed on my backpack at Teluk Bahang, a fishing village in the northwest of Penang where the Restaurant at the End of the World once stood before it met its end during the 2004 tsunami.
Evie notified me of the hitchhiker while my duck was intent on courting a fellow fowl. I placed the little creature on the flat top of a concrete wall and waited for it to tire and stay still. True to her ill-mannered nature, she drooled with no hint of shame, a droplet of shiny fluid forming noticably at the mouthparts. This family of six-eyed spiders are curious things with humped prosomas that house powerful glands secreting a strong organic glue. With its spindly legs, the spider is ill-equipped for vigorous wrestling matches. So instead of tackling prey head-on like jumpers or wolf spiders, the spitting spider sprays its adhesive onto victims that become affixed to the substrate and sitting ducks for a leisurely killing bite. The final thoughts of a fly stuck in spittoon must be something akin to *Ptui!"
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