Somersaulting spider a new species
Just like a gymnast somersaulting across the floor, observations of a new species of spider shows it moving through its desert home by means of flic-flac jumps. The newly-found Cebrennus rechenbergi uses its legs to create a rolling motion. It propels itself off the ground and uses its legs to create a rapid flic-flac movement, which sees it move at almost 2 metres per second. This gives the nocturnal spider a great flexibility – allowing it to move up and downhill, or on ground level with ease. The spider uses this method of locomotion when provoked as it allows it to move at twice the speed of its normal waking mode. “Unfortunately, I could not observe this stunning behaviour in the wild, but saw videos and could once provoke it in one specimen in my lab,” Dr Peter Jäger from the Senckenberg Research Institute told Laboratory News. “When you’ve seen hundreds or thousands of live huntsman spiders moving, running fast then it is a very unique moment if you see this flic-flac-ing. You are simply not prepared, you are just stunned.” “When you study then the high speed shots made by Ingo Rechenberg and see all details you are fascinated by the way of locomotion and, of course you would like to know why and how this kind of locomotion could evolve (and has not evolved in the sister species Cebrennus villosus). The trigger might be some parasitic wasp (as in the golden wheeling spider Carparachne aureoflava in the Namib), but this is pure speculation at the moment.” The flic-flac-ing spider – which has recently been introduced to the journal Zootaxa – has been named after Professor Ingo Rechenberg, who discovered it in Erg Chebbi in southeastern Morocco. The bionics expert passed it to Jäger for taxonomic determination. The arachnid is closely related to the Tunisian Cebrennus villosus, but minute differences in its sex organs means it can be classified as a new species. “The unique mode of locomotion also serves as a criterion to distinguish the species,” said Jäger. Rechenberg was so inspired by the arachnid’s movement that he has developed a 25cm long spider robot, which can move by walking or somersaulting. “This robot may be employed in agriculture, on the ocean floor or even on Mars,” he said. Cebrennus Simon, 1880 (Araneae: Sparassidae): a revisionary up-date with the description of four new species and an updated identification key for all species Cebrennus rechenbergi and the robot spider it inspired http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHo32JrkDRk&feature=youtu.be
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