A video has been released of a breed of spiders that create decoys to trick predators.

Scientists in Peru discovered the eight-legged creatures building fake versions of themselves in the Amazon rainforest as a defence mechanism.

It is believed that the Cyclosa species uses jungle debris and dead insects to create decoys which they hang in their webs as decoys.

Phil Torres, a biologist who described his discovery in a blog entry for Rainforest Expeditions, made the discovery.

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He said: "Considering that spiders can already make really impressive geometric designs with their webs, it's no surprise that they can take that leap to make an impressive design with debris and other things."

In September 2012, Torres was leading visitors into a floodplain surrounding Peru's Tambopata Research Centre, near the western edge of the Amazon. The saw what looked like an dead spider an inch long in a web.

As they looked, however, the "dead" spider seemed to move. On closer inspection, they realised that it was not real but a decoy that was being moved by a nearby spider haking the web.

Entomologist Lary Reeves also observed a similar practice on the island of Negros in the Philippines.

Reeves told Wired that the Philippine species and the Peruvian species both made decoys but that the "architecture is different."

"I don't think it's surprising that this happening. I think that no one's noticed in the past is surprising."