They discover a new species of giant crab spider in the tropical forests of the Amazon of Ecuador

2023-07-27 17:29:33

MADRID, 27 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Researchers from the San Francisco de Quito University USFQ and the National Institute of Biodiversity (INABIO), Pedro Peñaherrera-R. and Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, have discovered a new species of giant crab spider in the tropical forests of the Amazon of Ecuadorwhich is the first record of the spider genus ‘Sadala’ for the country, as reported by the National Institute of Biodiversity (INABIO).

Specific, researchers have found the species in primary tropical forest preserved by the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a USFQ scientific station, located in the center of the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve. The species, which has been previously known in countries such as Colombia and Brazil, reveals the great diversity of spiders that exists in the country.

“The discovery of this new species was made in one of the most diverse protected areas not only in Ecuador, but in the world.. Unfortunately, not all species are so lucky, because in our research we have discovered species that are highly threatened by the destruction of their natural habitats”, indicated Peñaherrera-R.

The spider was baptized with the scientific name ‘Sadala rauli’, in honor of Raúl Peñaherrera de la Cadena, grandfather of Pedro Peñaherrera-R. This spider is currently only known from female specimens, which are somewhat similar to the females of two Peruvian ‘Sadala’ species. The way to differentiate these species is through the morphology of the reproductive system, since they are very similar in their coloration.

According to the researchers, the name of ‘giant crab spider’ This is due to the position these spiders adopt when standing on vegetation with their legs extended to the sides and their large size compared to more common spiders. ‘Sadala’ species are distributed in Central and South America, from Panama to west-central Brazil.

The authors showed that there is a “high” number of observations recorded on the citizen science portal ‘iNaturalist’, which suggests that there could be additional localities of ‘S. rauli’ or other species, possibly undescribed, in Ecuador. Therefore, additional collections and studies are required to determine the richness and distribution of spiders, which seems to be underestimated.

According to experts, the diversity of spiders in the American tropics is “enormous“, but still largely unknown in Ecuador, where only about 1000 spider species are known, less than 25% of the known spider diversity in neighboring countries in the Andes.