There’s a new species of spider in town, Miami. And this little guy has legs for days
There’s a new species of spider in town, Miami. Meet the Pine Rockland Trapdoor Spider.
The eight-legged creepy crawler’s name comes from where it was discovered: the critically endangered pine rockland forest surrounding Zoo Miami.
According to a Wednesday release from the zoo, the Pine Rockland Trapdoor Spider (Ummidia richmond) was first found back in 2012 by a worker checking reptile research traps, but it didn’t match any existing records for known species in the region.
More than two years later, another one of these buggers, which are related to tarantulas, was found in the same area and sent out to experts for evaluation.
After years of research, Dr. Rebecca Godwin of Piedmont College in Georgia recently confirmed that this spider was a “previously undescribed species.”
Zoo Miami’s Conservation & Veterinary Services Manager Frank Ridgley said that the discovery of this new arachnid smack in the middle of the suburbs underscores the importance of preservation.
The zoo said these “elusive” spiders are some of the longest living in existence and can go on for decades in the same burrow.
Talk about elusive: The researchers have only found males so far.
This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 2:33 PM.
