Assassin spider
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Assassin spiders are a group of spiders, of the family Archaeidae, which are extremely unusual in that they have very long necks, vertically separating their head from their thorax by nearly the length of their body, itself. They prey upon other spiders, snagging them by surprise with extremely long fangs, many times the proportionate size of any other spider.
Assassin spiders are native to Australia and Africa (including Madagascar), one species occurs in South America. They are only known to grow to 2mm in size. They were first known from remains trapped in amber, which were found in Europe in 1854, and were not known to have living varieties until 1881.
There are actually two genetic lines of the spider, which evolved this complex solution to catching prey independently, in a stunning example of convergent evolution.
Nine new species were described from Madagascar in 2003, bringing the total number of known species to about 30.
External links
- [California Academy of Sciences research: Assassin spiders]
- [National Geographic Photo in the News: Bizarre Assassin Spiders Discovered in Madagascar]
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