Saturday, August 18, 2012

New family of spiders found in Oregon cave

(AP) ? Amateur cave explorers have found a new family of spiders in southern Oregon that scientists have dubbed Trogloraptor (TRA'-gla-rap-tor), or cave robber, for its fearsome front claws.

The spelunkers sent specimens to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Entomologists there say the spider ? the size of a half dollar ? evolved so distinctly that it requires its own taxonomic family ? the first new spider family from North America since 1870.

The species name, marchingtoni (mar-CHING'-tow-nee), honors Deschutes County sheriff's Deputy Neil Marchington, who led scientists to the cave outside Grants Pass.

Academy entomologist Charles Griswold says the spider spins a crude web, but scientists don't know yet what or how it eats.

The discovery is described in the online edition of the journal ZooKeys.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-08-17-New%20Spider%20Family/id-6a0702a514014811af52a0a093b1d774

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