Spotted spiders have strange legs in America

Spiders with hooks in the legs live in caves in the southern Oregon state of America and recently humans have found them.

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Hook in the legs help Trogloraptor marchingtoni spider catch flying insects. (Photo: Livescience)

'This is the first time scientists have discovered a new endemic spider family in North America since 1890,' said Charles Grisworld, a researcher at the California Academy of Sciences in the US. Grisworld led the group to explore the caves in Oregon state.

Highlights of the new spider family, called Trogloraptor marchingtoni , are hooks. Researchers believe they use hooks to catch flies, mosquitoes and insects in the air. With the foot posture fully stretched, their body length is up to 8cm, Livescience said.

Grisworld and colleagues thought that the new spiders spread the silk on the walls of the cave and ambush the bait with the hooks in the legs. They also have venom, but their stings are not dangerous to people. Another strange point is that they have two rows of teeth, not a row like the spiders that the scientific community knows. When caught, the spiders appeared to be very shy, because they didn't eat anything in the laboratory.

Currently, the scientific community has recognized 111 spiders. From 1990 up to now, people have found two new spiders. So the discovery of the Grisworld group is considered a shocking event in the world of arthropod research, like the discovery of new dinosaurs in the paleontological world.