Not all spiders are the same, especially the cunning trap-jaw spiders that can attack their prey on unsuspecting victims.These arachnids can only measure up to one eighth of an inch which possesses a rather plain appearance, making it almost unnoticeable to humans.
In this new study, researchers reveal how these creatures hunt in a unique manner using a fast as lightning attack that has never been seen before in larger predators. Scientifically known as Mecysmaucheniid spiders, these tiny insects are found to be a native species in the majority of the southern regions of South America including New Zealand. This new discovery about this mechanism behind how they hunt marks an unexpected finding by researchers inside the world's largest storehouse of arachnids.
According to Hannah Wood from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, our research shows that there are still so many things that we need to uncover about the arachnid world specifically their high speed attacks on their prey, that were previously unknown.
Wood first encountered trap-jaw spiders when she was working in Chile as a researcher and observed that these spiders can apparently sustain and hold their jaws open, appearing ready to strike at any moment even if they are just waiting around for unsuspecting prey that are passing them by. She then began collecting 100 live specimens of them where she captured footage of them in high speed exposures.
In these videos, there are about four positions used by these spiders where they shut their jaws in instant attacks to capture their prey. Ants are also known to employ similar strikes in hunting which have been recorded by researchers, however this is the first time that biologists recorded this type of hunting technique in spiders.
Apart from being lightning fast, these strikes can also pack in a lot of power, which have been measured by researchers where they believe that these forces cannot be solely produced by the muscular system of the tiny spiders. To date, it is still unknown to biologists how these spiders can utilize so much force to deliver a nasty, powerful bite.
This new research also details 11 new species of the Mecysmaucheniid spiders in addition to the 25 recognized species that exist today. This new study is published in the journal Current Biology.