To start things off - I have NOT photoshopped any of these features onto the abdomen of this spider - I was very careful to process the photos as naturally and subtly as possible as to not give a false impression to the viewer. If anything - I've gone a bit light on the processing - the "face-like" appearance was even stronger and more prominent to my eyes - it was hard to capture these subtleties with a camera flash!

Here is a closer view of the markings on the abdomen (taken with a flash) Relative gentle processing was done to this image - it's cropped, and had it's levels adjusted ever so slightly to combat the "washed-out" effect of a powerful flash firing right above the light colored rock I used as a base.

Anyone know the species (or at least genus) of this little spider? I am completely stumped - I've seen a few similar orb-weavers, but nothing quite like this!