The Amazon is home to many newly discovered species of animals, insects, and the like. As such, a new giant crab spider species was recently found with nocturnal hunting habits and long-range stalking skills.
Giant Crab Spider
According to Newsweek, the new spider species was found in the Amazon Rainforests at northern Ecuador's Yasuní Biosphere Reserve. Researchers published their findings in the Ecology and Evolution journal.
Diego Cisnero-Heredia, the study author, described how their discovery happened during a field trip to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station with his Tropical Ecology course. The professor also works with the National Institute of Biodiversity (INABIO) and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ).
Cisnero-Heredia shared how for about 30 years, the station has played a massive role in protecting the most biodiverse tropical forests. He also said that the spider's discovery was among several studies, they often carry out.
Newsweek reports that the spider they discovered was among the Sadala genus, commonly known as the giant crab or huntsman spiders. Cisnero-Heredia was joined by Pedro Peñaherrera-R, his colleague from USFQ/INABO, when naming the spider.
The two honored Pedro Peñaherrera-R's grandfather, Raúl Peñaherrera de la Cadena, by calling it the Sadala rauli.
Sadala Rauli Special Feats
As noted by the National Library of Medicine, the new species' median septum had relatively straight anterior lateral margins. As such, this feature was its notable difference compared to the S. punicea and S. nanay.
The discovery of this species came as a shock because it was the first Sadala genus spider ever recorded in Ecuador. Their genus is often found stretched throughout Central and South America.
The specimens the researchers found were female and were the first documented spiders of its kind. However, they did closely resemble two Peru Sadala spider species except for major noticeable differences in their reproductive system characteristics.
The spider's abdomen was described to have darker pectinated patterns while a stripe was spotted between its median eyes abdomen. It also had a diamond-shaped posteriorly on its medium septum.
Giant Crab Spider Hunting Habits
As for how the spider hunts, researchers discovered it was nocturnal and looked for insects among vegetation. It can stalk its prey from three to seven feet above, and another thing that makes it unique is that the spider doesn't spin webs to hunt.
The Wiley Online Library reports that there have only been 138 observations of the Sadala species, with 17 of them hailing from the Tiputini Biodiversity station. One hundred eighteen observations came from lowland Amazonian locations stretching to Ecuador's eastern part of the Andean slopes.
The Sadala species was found to be distributed from Panama to central-west Brazil, with the newly discovered Salada Rauli being the first found in Ecuador.
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