Fuzzy critters — with genitals shaped like a ‘Hot Wheels’ track — found as new species
In the caves of Southwest China, a tiny, fuzzy, multi-legged creature moves around in the dark.
The male of the species catches the eye of a female clinging to the cave walls and coaxes her over to him.
The two meet, and the male pulls out a Hot Wheels track-shaped appendage.
That’s how researchers described the curved shaped genitalia of the newly discovered spider in their research published in ZooKeys on Jan. 18.
Using specimens found in three caves in the Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces in China, researchers from Hebei University noticed the spiders they were examining looked different than ones they had seen before.
While the spiders resembled another genus in the spider family Gnaphosidae, they had a median apophysis, or bone growth where muscles attach, that suggested they might be something entirely new.
Then they saw the spider’s genitalia — and knew it was a previously undiscovered genus.
A genus is a subgroup of animal families that lumps closely-related species with similar physical characteristics together.
“The generic name refers to Hot Wheels, a collectible die-cast toy car made by Mattel, as the long, coiled embolus of this new genus resembles a Hot Wheels track,” the researchers said.
An embolus is used by male spiders to transport sperm directly into the body of the female spiders during mating, according to a 2021 study published in the journal Frontiers.
The spiders have a long, curved embolus, earning their name for the popular kids toy.
But that wasn’t the only part of the reproductive system that stood out.
“The specific name is derived from Sisyphus, a king in Greek mythology who offended Zeus and whose punishment was to repeatedly roll a huge stone up a hill only to have it roll back down, because the circular copulatory ducts are like Sisyphus’s cyclic mission,” the researchers said.
The copulatory ducts, which carry sperm, wrap around the back of the spider’s body, photos show.
With the two unique features, the researchers identified the new species as Hotwheels sisyphus.
The spiders are only about 5 millimeters long, the researchers said, and are part of a larger group of spiders that remain largely unstudied.
“Ground spider research in southwest China and neighboring countries is severely limited, with a lack of regional revisions,” the researchers said. “Our knowledge of the diversity of gnaphosids in southwest China is far from adequate, and many new taxa remain to be discovered.”
