Scientists have discovered a terrifying type of spider that has the ability to glide through the air.
A group of biologists working in Panama and Peru spotted a nocturnal hunting spider that is a monstrous two inches across and skydives from trees. The spider is able to steer its movements as it falls, allowing it to return to the tree it jumped out of, the University of California, Berkeley reported.
"My guess is that many animals living in the trees are good at aerial gliding, from snakes and lizards to ants and now spiders," said Robert Dudley, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. "If a predator comes along, it frees the animal to jump if it has a time-tested way of gliding to the nearest tree rather than landing in the understory or in a stream."
In past studies the research team discovered a group of ants that would land on another tree if accidently brushed off a branch. This finding prompted the researchers to toss other non-flying arthropods off tree branches to see which ones could glide.
"As far as adult arthropods are concerned, only ants, bristletails and spiders use directed aerial descent," Yanoviak said. "However, the wingless immature stages of various insects that are winged as adults can also glide really well. These include cockroaches, mantids, katydids, stick insects and true bugs."
All 59 of the spiders from the Selenops that were looked at in the study were adapted to skydiving. The arachnids maneuver themselves in the air by stretching out their legs, using "lift" and "drag" to steer themselves towards a tree trunk to grab onto. The spiders are also able to right themselves in midair if they are falling upside down.
The findings are particularly interesting because gliding is believed to have been the precursor to flying, and observing this behavior could provide insight into the evolution of flight. The findings could also provide ideas for the development of future robots that can regain their balance after being knocked over.
The study was published in a recent edition of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
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