A stretched thief spider, Rhomphaea, on the Bombalai Hill trail

One spider hanging on a silk line below a leaf, a little past the 400-metre mark, Tawau Hills Park, 9 October 2026, 16:59

A slender spider with a curved, silvery, pointed abdomen hanging just below the edge of a pale green leaf, long thin legs folded beneath it. — 16:59:20, hanging just below the leaf edge.

Side view of the spider hanging on fine silk lines: a tall, cone-shaped silvery abdomen with red-brown flecks and long legs held close together like a twig. — 17:00:18, on its silk line, from the side.

From above on the underside of a leaf: a small pale carapace, very long thin ringed legs, and a long spindle-shaped abdomen, silver with red-brown marks and a dark tip. — 17:04:30, on the leaf, from above.

Front and side view on the leaf: the abdomen pointing up and away, silvery with black spots and a dark tip, the long legs spread out over the leaf. — 17:05:59, on the leaf, from the front.

The spider hanging on a single silk line against dark foliage, abdomen angled up to a point, front legs stretched forward. — 17:09:00, back on its silk line below the leaf.

All cropped and reduced from the camera originals; nothing else changed. Flash fired.

The record

Date	Friday 9 October 2026
Time	16:59–17:09, late afternoon
Place	Jungle trail to Bombalai Hill, a little past the 400-metre mark, Tawau Hills Park, Tawau, Sabah
Habitat	Understorey of the protected forest on the hill trail. Dry season, no heavy rain for several days; hazy sky, no steady sun on the path
Substrate	Hanging on a silk line a few inches below an unidentified leaf; a very thin web on the underside of the leaf served as its retreat
Behaviour	At first hung still, like a piece of debris, swinging in the wind. When the leaf was held steady for photographs it became very active and moved about non-stop, trying to escape
Number	One
Size	Not measured; about 10 mm head to tail (observer's estimate)
Camera	Canon IXUS 285 HS, five frames in ten minutes, flash
Observer	Wong Fook Yee
iNaturalist	observation 407000298

Identification

Order Araneae · Family Theridiidae (cobweb spiders) · Subfamily Argyrodinae · Genus Rhomphaea (stretched thief spiders).
Species not determined. Sex and age not determined.

Abdomen long, cone- to spindle-shaped and silvery, tapering behind to a point with a dark tip; fine red-brown reticulation, a few black spots and a pale line along the top.
From the side the abdomen is highest near the front and narrows to the tail, giving the whole spider the look of a curved sliver of debris.
Carapace small and pale, much shorter than the abdomen.
Legs very long and thin, pale with red-brown rings; legs I the longest.
Hangs on single silk lines with only a sparse web, not an orb.

The silvery, pointed abdomen drawn out behind the spinnerets and the very long ringed legs place it in the Argyrodinae; the genus Rhomphaea was confirmed by identifiers on iNaturalist. The species cannot be told from photographs.

Remarks

Its stillness on a silk line, swinging like wind-blown debris, is the debris-like resting habit often seen in this group. This is the fourth record of the genus on this site; the others are listed on the Rhomphaea page.

Related: Bombalai Hill, Tawau Hills Park · Genus Rhomphaea · Rhomphaea GERGASSI, 2009 · Theridiidae · Spiders of Borneo
Photographs © Wong Fook Yee. Locality, date, time and behaviour are the photographer's own; identification at genus from iNaturalist. Record page written 9 October 2026.