Tag: new spider

New spider species discovered in Idaho, named in honour of the University of Idaho’s “Vandals”

Researchers at the University of Idaho have identified a new species of spider in the mountains of northern Idaho and given it a name that pays tribute to the university itself: Hexura vandal.

Researchers at the University of Idaho have identified a new species of spider in the mountains of northern Idaho and given it a name that pays tribute to the university itself: Hexura vandal.

The spider belongs to a small group of funnel-web spiders related to tarantulas. Until now, only two species in this genus were known, both living hundreds of miles away in the coastal forests and mountains of Oregon and Washington.

Finding a third species so far inland, in the Rocky Mountains near the town of Kooskia, came as a surprise to the research team, led by Arnau Calatayud-Mascarell, Ethan J. Briggs and Chris A. Hamilton. It extends the known range of the genus by roughly 500 kilometres and is the first new taxonomic work done on this group of spiders in almost fifty years.

Distribution and habitat of *Hexura* spiders including new records, records from iNaturalist, Gertsch and Platnick (1979), and The Burke Museum of Natural History in Seattle, Washington. Blue = H. picea, Pink = H. rothi, Yellow = H. vandal.

Associate Professor Dr. Chris A. Hamilton stated:

“It’s always exciting when you realize the samples you’ve been looking at are an undescribed new species. This is one of the main reasons we do this job – to document Earth’s incredible biodiversity and expand our foundational biological knowledge of our planet. It just makes it even more exciting when that undescribed diversity can be found in your backyard (figuratively speaking).”

The name is where the story becomes especially local. Rather than a Latin descriptor, the researchers chose “vandal”, which is a direct nod to the university’s own mascot. The nickname dates back to 1917, when student journalist Harry Lloyd McCarty described the men’s basketball team’s fierce style of play as “vandalizing” their opponents. The name stuck, and the University of Idaho remains the only Division I university in the United States with the Vandals as its mascot.

*Hexura vandal* sp. nov. female (L) and male (R). Credit: Arnau Calatayud-Mascarell et al., (2026).

When discussing how the name was picked, Hamilton said:

“It didn’t take very long for the lab to sit down and decide what to name the new species. It was basically, this is really unique because it’s only found in Idaho and it’s not very far (relative) from campus. It’s black (sorry that it’s not black and gold like the school colors!). It’s a predator that attacks. It’s a Vandal.”

The discovery comes with a note of caution. Hexura vandal has so far only been found in a handful of sites within a very small area of forest in Idaho, despite repeated searches nearby. The region faces pressure from logging, and wildfires, which are becoming more frequent, and tend to strike during the spiders’ breeding season. Taken together, these factors have led the researchers to consider the micro-endemic species likely endangered, and they hope the discovery will help build the case for protecting its habitat.

The findings are described in a newly published scientific paper in ZooKeys by the research team, based at the University of Idaho’s Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology.

University of Idaho, home of the Vandals, is Idaho’s land-grant university and the state’s first Carnegie R1 research institution — a ranking reserved for the top 4% of U.S. universities. From its residential campus in Moscow, U of I serves the state through centers in Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls and McCall, nine research and Extension centers, and Extension offices in 42 counties. With more than 12,000 students, U of I is a leader in student-centered experiential learning, interdisciplinary research, business and community service and global outreach. The Vandals compete as a founding member of the Big Sky Conference and as an affiliate in the Big West and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Pensoft is an independent, open-access scholarly publisher and technology provider, best known for its 30+ biodiversity journals, including ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, PhytoKeys, MycoKeys, One Ecosystem, and Metabarcoding and Metagenomics. Ever since becoming the first to introduce semantic enrichments and hyperlinks within a scientific article in the field of biodiversity in 2010, Pensoft has been working on various tools and workflows designed to facilitate data findability, accessibility, discoverability and interoperability.

Cover image:

Top: US Highway 12, near Hexura vandal sp. nov. type locality, Apgar Campgrounds, Lowell, Idaho.; Bottom: Mixed conifer forest logs, Hexura vandal sp. nov. type locality, Apgar Campgrounds, Lowell, Idaho

Original source:

Calatayud-Mascarell A, Briggs EJ, Hamilton CA (2026) Hidden in the woods: A new species of Hexura (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Antrodiaetidae) from a highly restricted range in Idaho. ZooKeys 1290: 339–355. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1290.200898

New “Happy-Face” Spider Species Discovered in the Indian Himalayas

For over a century, this cheerful-looking creature was thought to be a unique resident of the Hawaiian Islands.

Vibrant, tiny, and sporting a bright red grin on its back, the Happy-Face spider is one of the most famous and recognisable arachnids in the world. For over a century, this cheerful-looking creature was thought to be a unique resident of the Hawaiian Islands, a biological curiosity found nowhere else on Earth.

When researchers from the Forest Research Institute and the Regional Museum of Natural History discovered a new species of spider with the same unmistakable smile in the montane mountains of Uttarakhand, India, they knew exactly what to call it: Theridion himalayana, the Himalayan Happy-Face Spider.

Mature male (left) and female (right) of *Theridion himalayana* sp. nov. Photo credit: Devi Priyadarshini and Ashirwad Tripathy.

“The discovery was accidental because our survey was [originally] on ants. But my co-author [Ashirwad Tripathy] kept sending me spiders from high altitude regions for identification.

So, one fine day, when he shared this image from the underside of a Daphniphyllum leaf, I froze in shock because I had seen the Hawaiian spider during my master’s programme itself, and I knew instantly we had a jackpot because of its striking resemblance.

I asked him to send all morphs that he found, and that led to the discovery in the next few months, from October 2023 onwards.”
Devi Priyadarshini, Regional Museum of Natural History, Bhubaneswar

Priyadarshini added that she was always interested in exploring high-altitude spiders because the landscape and vegetation are so different there than in the plains:

“This almost came across as a gateway to look at other polymorphic species from this region.”

Ashirwad also said that we could find more variations in the species if the surveys could be done extensively.

Nest architecture of *Theridion himalayana*. Photo credit: Devi Priyadarshini and Ashirwad Tripathy.

The species name, himalayana, serves as a tribute to the mountain range where the spider was found at elevations of over 2,000 meters above sea level.

“The name Himalayana was decided as the species name because we both wanted to pay our respects to the mighty Himalaya mountain ranges, which have been standing tall not just guarding our country but also holding a plethora of biodiversity within them.

Since this spider was the first polymorphic from this region, we decided to make it an ode to the amazing mountain ranges.”
Ashirwad Tripathy, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun

*Theridion himalayana* sp. nov. Photo credit: Devi Priyadarshini and Ashirwad Tripathy.

The research, published in the open-access journal Evolutionary Systematics, identified 32 different colour variations, or “morphs”, of the species collected from three locations in Uttarakhand: Makku, Tala, and Mandal. DNA analysis revealed a genetic variation of approximately 8.5% from the Hawaiian happy-face spider, confirming it as a separate lineage that evolved independently in Asia.

Different “morphs” of *Theridion himalayana* sp. nov. Photo credit: Devi Priyadarshini and Ashirwad Tripathy.

While the smiling patterns are striking, their exact purpose remains a mystery.

“The reason behind the expression of polymorphism is also very complex and unique.

These patterns definitely help them survive better in the wild, which is understood prima facie, but why do they resort to such patterns on their back, and what functional role in their life cycle does it exactly serve is yet to be deciphered. This is definitely indicative of a deeper genetic mystery.”
Priyadarshini

Ashirwad also mentioned that the spider species was surrounded by critters which had similar colour patterns on their body.

Subadult female with Psocid (booklice) prey. Photo credit: Devi Priyadarshini and Ashirwad Tripathy.

The study additionally noted that these spiders are frequently found on ginger plants (Hedychium species), mirroring the behaviour of their Hawaiian cousins. Since ginger is not native to Hawaii, the researchers are intrigued by the evolutionary connection.

“How did the spiders choose an invasive species and ginger exactly? If T. himalayana is an elder cousin of T. grallator, although discovered 125 years later!

Although this sounds like a tall claim now, it will be our further scope of work to establish any missing links, if at all, through Hedychium sps.”
Priyadarshini

Showing the prey of T. himalayana sp. nov. Video credit: Devi Priyadarshini and Ashirwad Tripathy.

Original source:

Tripathy A, Priyadarshini D (2026) On the discovery of a new polymorphic Happy-Face Spider (Araneae, Theridiidae) from the Western Himalayas, India, with notes on its natural history. Evolutionary Systematics 10(1): 63-84. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.10.174338

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Right under our noses: A novel lichen-patterned spider found on oaks in central Spain

It happened again, a previously unknown spider species, whose home is a strongly humanised European country, appears to have been quietly and patiently waiting to get noticed until very recently.

Living on the trunks of oaks in Spain, the new species would have probably been spotted decades ago, had it not been for its sophisticated camouflage, which allows the small arachnid to perfectly blend with the lichens naturally growing on the tree.

Going by the name Araneus bonali, the new species was discovered on isolated trees at the borders of cereal fields by the scientists Eduardo Morano, University of Castilla-La Mancha, and Dr Raul Bonal, University of Extremadura. Their study is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Curiously enough, this is the same habitat, where the team found another new spider in 2016.

“How many new species remain unknown in these isolated oaks that once formed vast forests now becomes one even more intriguing question,” say the researchers.

“Anyone going for a walk around any village or park in central Spain would have been close to the new species. However, noticing it requires not only curiosity, but also a good sight, as its lichen-like colours make up an excellent mimicry.”

*Lichens growing on an oak trunk at the study site in central Spain.*

The similarity between the adults and the lichens that cover the oak trunks they inhabit is remarkable. Meanwhile, the greenish juveniles live amongst the green new shoots in the oak canopy until they reach maturity.

Whether the spider uses its mimicry to avoid predators or rather surprise its prey remains open for further investigation.

The description of this new species that belongs to the popular group of orb-weavers once again stresses the need of working harder on completing the list of spiders living in the Old World, such as the countries in the Mediterranean basin – a region that certainly keeps more taxonomic surprises up his sleeve.

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Original source:

Morano E, Bonal R (2018) Araneus bonali sp. n., a novel lichen-patterned species found on oak trunks (Araneae, Araneidae). ZooKeys 779: 119-145. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.779.26944

Out of the darkness: A new spider found deep within an Indiana cave

Lead author Marc Milne in the Stygian River Cave and a male specimen of the newly described *Islandiana lewisi*

Spiders are ubiquitous within our forests, fields, and backyards. Although you may be used to seeing the beautiful yellow and black spiders of the genus Argiope in your garden, large ground-scurrying wolf spiders in your yard, or spindly cellar spiders in your basement, this new sheet-web-building spider is probably one you haven’t seen before. The reason is that it’s known from a single cave in the world, Stygeon River Cave, in southern Indiana.

The University of Indianapolis assistant professor, Dr. Marc Milne, described the rare species in the open access journal Subterranean Biology with the help of a University of Indianapolis alumnus, Elizabeth Wells, who illustrated the spider for the manuscript.

Sheet weavers, also known as dwarf spiders or money spiders, are minute creatures growing no larger than a few centimetres in length, which makes them particularly elusive. Their peculiar webs are flat and sheet-like, hence their common English name.

Female of the new species *Islandiana lewisi*

The new spider, Islandiana lewisi, is an homage. Milne was shown the spider by a fellow scientist, Dr. Julian Lewis, who noticed the critter on one of his many cave expeditions. In appreciation for his help, Milne and Wells named the spider after Lewis.

This is the fifteenth species in its genus (Islandiana) and the fifth known to live exclusively in caves. It has been over 30 years since the last species has been added to this group.

At about 2 mm in size, Islandiana lewisi is thought to feed on even smaller arthropods, such as springtails living in the debris on the cave floor. It is unknown when it reproduces or if it exists anywhere else. The spider is likely harmless to humans.

The collectors of the spider, Milne and Lewis, described the hostile conditions within the cave, which the new species calls home: “because the cave floods from time to time, the insides were wet, muddy, slippery, and dangerous to walk on without the proper equipment.”

Milne and Lewis found the spider in small, horizontal webs between large, mud-caked boulders in the largest room in the cave. It was collected in October 2016 with the permission of the landowner.

Milne hypothesized that he had collected something special, stating, “I didn’t know what the spider was at first, I just thought it was odd that so many were living within this dark cave with no other spider species around.”

After returning to the lab and inspecting the spider under a microscope, Milne initially misidentified the species. However, when he re-examined it months later, he realized that the species was indeed new to science.

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Original source:

Milne MA, Wells E (2018) A new species of spider (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Islandiana) from a southern Indiana cave. Subterranean Biology 26: 19-26. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.26.25605