Six new spider species discovered across the country

Context

Recently, the new spider species has been discovered across the country by the Arachnologists from the Centre for Animal Taxonomy and Ecology (CATE), Kerala.

Highlights of the Study:

The first Species of Spiders’ spotted belong to the genus ‘Siamspinops’.
The new species of Spiders were found from the regions namely:
- The Garo hills in Meghalaya-Siamspinops garoensis spcecies
- The Thar desert of Rajasthan- Afraflacilla miajlarensis
- Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary- Afraflacilla kurichiadensis
- Kottappara hills- Philoponella rostralis,
- Thumboormuzhi butterfly garden - Oxyopes thumboormuzhiensis
- The University of Calicut campus- Oxyopes peetham.

Do you know?

These findings have been published in the latest volume of Zootaxa (New Zealand), Arthropoda Selecta (Russia), British Journal of Arachnology (England), Acata Arachnologica (Japan) and Serket (Egypt), international journals that deal with spider study.

About

*Spider Species*	*Description*
1.Siamspinops garoensis spcecies	*Siamspinops garoensisis a species of araneomorphae spider in the family Selenopidae. The species is endemic to Meghalaya*, India. The specific epithet is an adjective and refers to the type locality of the species, Garo Hills.
2.Afraflacilla miajlarensis	They are called as ‘jumping spiders’. *Afraflacillais a genus of the spider family Salticidae. Most species are distributed in Eastern to Northern Africa (including the Middle East) and Australia, with two species ( epiblemoides and A. tarajalis*) found in Europe.
3.Afraflacilla kurichiadensis	This Wayanad species is characterised by red patches around the eyes and white hairs on the abdomen. The bulged first pair of legs is also a special feature of this species. This spider lives in the moist deciduous forest of Kurichiyad.
4.Philoponella rostralis	They are also called as Feather- legged spiders. This species lacks a venom gland and belongs to the family of feather- legged spiders (Uloboridae). This new species has been named as Philoponella rostralis, due to the presence of a beak like structure on the male reproductive organ.
5.Oxyopes thumboormuzhiensis	Two new species of spiders belonging to the family ofspiny-legged spiders (Oxyopidae) have been discovered from the Thumboormuzhi butterfly garden, near the Athirappilly waterfalls, and on the Calicut University campus.