New species of trapdoor spider discovered

A PhD student from Griffith University has discovered a large number of new trapdoor spider species in Australia.

Trapdoor spiders are found in Brisbane forests and national parks throughout Queensland. Not all these arachnids create burrows covered by a trapdoor made of silk and other organic material.

Jeremy Wilson, from Griffith University, said he had identified at least 10 more species of golden trapdoor spiders in southern Queensland — before this search there were only four known species.

“We believe there are many more undiscovered species out there. The really cool thing about trapdoor spiders is they live really long lives and they don't move much, they live in these holes their entire life. What that means is it's really easy for populations to become isolated and become new species.”

Female trapdoor spiders, bigger than their male counterparts, are usually the top invertebrate predator in their ecosystem. This can result in whole populations being eradicated due to deforestation.

Wilson said: “In Australia especially there is so much that is still unknown about them. When they carry out conservation planning they need to know what’s there. With only four species of so many potentially, these trapdoor species are in danger of going extinct before we even know they exist. The key thing to highlight is that predators are crucial to ecosystems as they control the population of all organisms at lower levels of the food chain.”

Further research will be carried out to see how trapdoor spiders and their trapdoors have evolved.