In the magical paradise of Hawaii, even the spiders are friendly!
I know what you're thinking. Ewewew, a spider tiny enough to crawl into my ear at night and eat my brain! Well, fear not (and squish not), reader, for if you zoom in on the harmless Happy Face Spider (Theridion grallator), you will find that it only wants to make friends with you.
Look at that smile!
Spindly-legged and nearly translucent, these spiders are only five millimeters long (so either the top-right picture in the montage above is photoshopped...or these spiders have gotten a lot less fun-sized since the Internet last wrote about 'em). Cute!
According to webecoist.momtastic.com, "When asked to comment on this tiny arachnid, Dr Geoff Oxford (a spider expert from the UK’s University of York) said: 'I must admit when I turned over the first leaf and saw one it certainly brought a smile to my face.'"
SourceActually, Happy Face Spiders can have many different types of markings, though I'm sure they're all as happy as the ones with smiles to prove it. And some don't have markings at all, but you can bet these spiders don't discriminate. (If you look them up on Wikipedia, you'll find that its only picture is of a pretty blank Happy Face. I mean, we love you anyway, little guy, but seriously, what's up with that?)
SourceNow tell me you didn't smile too!
Resources (besides image sources):
http://eol.org/pages/1188085/overview
http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/01/26/8-smiling-spiders-that-make-you-feel-warm-and-fuzzy/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_face_spider
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