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[Gaborn]

Cave hunting biologists from San Francisco, working with a team of speleologists in the wilds of southern Oregon, have discovered a new family of spiders never before known to science.

The spindly, six-eyed members of the worldwide arachnid tribe appear to have evolved their fearsome elongated claws over hundreds of millions of years, but how they attack their prey and how and what they eat are still unknown, the scientists say.

The newfound spider family is being named trogloraptor, meaning "cave robber," and the single species found near Grants Pass is named Trogloraptor marchingtoni for Neil Marchington, a Deschutes County deputy sheriff who is also an amateur biologist and local cave explorer who helped lead the team of scientists to caves where the spiders were found.

The science team was led by entomologist Charles Griswold of the California Academy of Sciences. He is an internationally noted specialist in all things arachnid - including spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks and the harvestmen known as daddy long-legs.

A report on the discovery by Griswold and his colleagues, graduate student Tracy Audisio of San Francisco State and postdoctoral researcher Joel Ledford of UC Davis, has been accepted for publication in ZooKeys, a peer-reviewed zoology journal.

Audisio said Wednesday that she and Marchington were part of a group, all members of the Western Cave Conservancy, that made the first discovery of the trogloraptor family.

The mystery spiders were brought back to Griswold's arachnid lab at the academy for detailed analysis. Now another team of what Griswold calls "citizen scientists" has brought in two more live adult trogloraptors and three juveniles that were discovered deep in the old-growth forest of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, near Crescent City.

"We tried to learn what they eat," Audisio said, "so we built a cold little cave for them and gave them crickets and flies and moths and even other spiders, but they didn't eat anything and after three weeks they all died, so we still don't know."

The adults are huge for any spider - about the size of a 50-cent piece - and they spin primitive webs with only a few strands, but hang beneath those webs from the cool, damp ceilings of the caves, Griswold said.

Primitive relatives of other arachnid families may yet be discovered in the same regions, he noted, because many unique evolutionary descendants of other widespread groups live there, including coast redwoods, mountain beavers, coastal-tailed frogs, and some pseudoscorpions whose evolutionary ancestors date back 380 million years.

To biologists of all disciplines, merely discovering a single new species of animal or plant can be a major accomplishment. And discovering a new genus - a group that may include many new species - is a triumph.

But discovering an entire new family that might include genus after genus and species after species is rare indeed.

"This is something completely new," said Griswold of the team's cave discovery. "It's a historic event."

Story Here

 

[Hilbert]

Hey that's my hometown!

 

[RangersFan]

fucking kill it

 

[echoshifting]

Damn, science gets one right. Trogloraptor is an awesome name.

 

[Bombadil]

Impressive fangs.

Finding out how it eats won't be an issue. Just toss it into a jar with a cockroach.

 

[Fritz]

What's up with the caves recently? It's like people have just invented the torch.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

Awesome name aside... NOPE

 

[marrec]

What's up with the caves recently? It's like people have just invented the torch.

Minecraft's influence is being felt everywhere.

 

[Mudkips]

Impressive fangs.

Finding out how it eats won't be an issue. Just toss it into a jar with a cockroach.

Didn't read lol.

We tried to learn what they eat," Audisio said, "so we built a cold little cave for them and gave them crickets and flies and moths and even other spiders, but they didn't eat anything and after three weeks they all died, so we still don't know.

 

[Dennis]

First vegan spider!

 

[Bombadil]

Didn't read lol.

My eyes must have glossed over that part.

 

[dallow_bg]

First vegan spider!

Ha.

 

[Avixph]

First vegan spider!

Nope it eats souls.

 

[Socreges]

I missed something - - what characteristics make this a new family?

 

[Gaborn]

I missed something - - what characteristics make this a new family?

I'm sure the paper where they detail the new family's characteristics goes into detail on that point.

 

[base shagohod]

fucking kill it

Hahah my exact reaction upon seeing the picture. Word for word.

 

[Clydefrog]

This spider looks feeble. I could totally squish it.

 

[lethial]

First vegan spider!

Well it sure does look skinny and malnourished!

 

[itwasTuesday]

dawwwwww

 

[Major Williams]

One letter off from being a perfect name.

 

[Tesseract]

i want to snort it.

 

[Bombadil]

Since spiders are arthropods, is it possible that spiders can evolve to be as big as the biggest crabs living today?

 

[Socreges]

I'm sure the paper where they detail the new family's characteristics goes into detail on that point.

Yeah. Just thought they may have mentioned something in the article since it seems like an important point.

 

[freenudemacusers]

First vegan spider!

No, they just brought in crickets and insects from outside the state. Too many food miles.

 

[Gaborn]

Yeah. Just thought they may have mentioned something in the article since it seems like an important point.

*shrug* that's journalism's approach to science. Dumb it down and distill it as much as possible.

 

[Raist]

Since spiders are arthropods, is it possible that spiders can evolve to be as big as the biggest crabs living today?

Gaborn forgot to mention that the rock in the picture is 5m wide. He just didn't want to freak arachnophoGAF out.

 

[echoshifting]

"This is a major, historic discovery for reasons none of you will ever understand."

 

[Socreges]

Since spiders are arthropods, is it possible that spiders can evolve to be as big as the biggest crabs living today?

Crabs stay on the ground and in water so they can grow to be much bigger. Spiders climb, weave webs , etc so they have a ceiling.

 

[Switters]

I'm so bored...

 

[Miutsu]

It obviously has humans for breakfast.

 

[NervousXtian]

Pretty cool find. 50 cent piece big.. that's a good size spider.

 

[To Far Away Times]

Dammit. Why, why, why did I click on this thread?

 

[lethial]

Dammit. Why, why, why did I click on this thread?

That little spider actually frightens you?

 

[NaturalHigh]

I think it's cute! It looks like jello.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

No.

 

[Paddington Bear]

Don't study spiders. Kill spiders. With fire

 

[Deified Data]

Trogloraptor is my new favorite word.

 

[bengraven]

SyFy producers are pissed off that science stole their troglodite + velociraptor movie title.

 

[Poyunch]

Maybe they're parasitic. Just to freak out arachnaphobes even more.

 

[Piggus]

Gah. I live in southern Oregon. Will keep an eye out for one of these.

 

[FanTomasas]

Since spiders are arthropods, is it possible that spiders can evolve to be as big as the biggest crabs living today?

http://www.visitnorway.com/ImageVault/Images/id_2832/conversionFormat_13/scope_0/ImageVaultHandler.aspx[/IM][/QUOTE]

I don't think that spiders can benefit from size in any way.

 

[UFRA]

Great, now I'm never going to sleep thanks to this thread and the other spider one today.

 

[Kukuk]

Fuck that. Can't stand the thought of new spiders being discovered.

At least I don't live in Oregon anymore...

 

[Grover Cleveland]

Not sure if I find it cute...or if I want it killed the fuck with fire.

 

[LOCK]

Very long legs. The article mentions fearsome fangs but not at how fast they are.

I bet they eat things that live in the cave that hasn't been found yet. duh?

 

[plasticpassion]

That thing..in my face as soon as I clicked the link. arrgghhh

 

[pompidu]

I don't think that spiders can benefit from size in any way.

Unless bugs start growing to massive sizes, there is no need for spiders to get bigger.

 

[Gaborn]

Unless bugs start growing to massive sizes, there is no need for spiders to get bigger.

 

[LOZLINK]

dawww

 

[dummydecoy]

Since spiders are arthropods, is it possible that spiders can evolve to be as big as the biggest crabs living today?

Not as tasty as crabs, but damn are they beautiful.