![]() All that exists today is a possible illustration of the spider’s genitals and lots of questions about the spider’s behavior, ecology, threats to its survival, and whether it even still exists. ![]() No biologist has ever seen a male of the species. She was only able to research female spiders of the species, which wound up in a Portugal museum that burned down in 1978, and the only evidence of the spider’s existence with it. It was discovered and described by the pioneering female entomologist, Amelia Bacelar, which in and of itself was unusual for that time. Not much else is known about the species. While every other known species in the Nemesia family builds their burrows perpendicular to the ground, Fagilde’s Trapdoor Spider builds their tunnels horizontal to the ground. Entomologists suspect that each species has its own song, which matches the musical tastes of the species’ females. A male will find a burrow door and drum at it with his legs, essentially “singing” to the female in his own way. Males, on the other hand, will venture out when they are ready for breeding, an opportunity for trapdoor spiders to show off their adorable (yes…an adorable spider!) charm offensive. Female spiders live in the same burrow for years, often decades, raising their young here before they go off to build their own homes, often nearby as part of a spider “town,” Henriques says. When the spider feels smaller vibrations, like, say, those of a small beetle, it can swing the door open and bon appetit. Scratching vibrations indicate that a predator, like a wasp, may be snooping around, and the spider can lock the door. When the spider feels vibrations over the burrow, it can determine whether it is a predator or if it is dinner knocking at the door. The door comes with a locking mechanism-little holes that the spider can use to pull the door closed. They then use leaf litter and soil to build a camouflaged door to block the burrow entrance. These burrows are usually no more than 4 inches deep and 1 inch in diameter. They dig a nearly perfectly cylindrical hole in the ground-so perfect that it is hard to believe it wasn’t done with a human tool-that is the entrance to a burrow. Unlike the elaborate webs we associate with most spiders, trapdoor spiders have their own unique method for both hunting and defense. Trapdoor spiders are found in Europe, the United States, South Africa and Australia. His steadfast efforts, and a lasting love for spiders that rivals in strength the fear arachnophobes feel, has led to what possibly-very possibly-may be the rediscovery of a spider lost to science since Herbert Hoover was president of the United States. He is the last on his team to go to sleep and the first to get out into the field. Native to Portugal, but most recently an Indianapolis resident, Henriques has been spending time in his home country visiting Fagilde, a small village in north-central Portugal where the spider was originally found. You have to be very intentionally looking for it in a specialized kind of way.” ![]() ![]() “Some lost species that are bigger and don’t live underground might be easier to stumble across, but this is not one of them. “It takes a lot of time to look for signs of this species,” says Henriques, who is the invertebrate conservation coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival at the Indianapolis Zoo and co-chair of the IUCN SSC Spider and Scorpion Specialist Group. ![]()
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