New trapdoor spider species discovery

This is a video about trapdoor spiders, from the BBC’s Life in the Undergrowth documentary series.

From Wildlife Extra:

Three new species of trapdoor spiders

November 2013: Three new species of the wafer trapdoor spider genus, Fufius, have been discovered in Brazil – F. minusculus, F. jalapensis, and F. candango – by scientists from the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo. Spiders belonging to the Fufius genus are widely distributed throughout Central and South America, from Guatemala to south eastern Brazil.

The genus belongs to the Cyrtaucheniidae spider family which are also known as wafer trapdoor spiders. Many, but not all, make wafer-like doors to their burrows, while others build the cork-like doors found commonly in the true trapdoor spiders. Little is known about the biology of the enigmatic genus Fufius, but among the curiosities is that instead of burrows these spiders live in silken tubes in crevices, carefully prolongued with silk.

“What is curious about the genus Fufius is the wide distribution of the species. Normally, mygalomorphs have a very restricted distribution. Furthermore, the genus has species living in contrasting environments as the Amazon, Savannah, and Brazilian Atlantic forest. This makes the genus a potential model for biogeographic studies,” says one of the authors Dr. Rogerio Bertani.

The scientific description of these three new species is here.

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