ZSI Discovers Two New Spider Species: Simonia lawbah and Hamataliwa papikonda

Key facts

• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) scientists discovered two new spider species: Simonia lawbah from Meghalaya and Hamataliwa papikonda from Andhra Pradesh.
• Simonia lawbah, found in the Krem Lawbah cave, measures less than 2 mm and constructs a cone-shaped slingshot web to capture flying insects.
• Hamataliwa papikonda, discovered in Papikonda National Park, is a lynx spider under 5 mm that hunts by darting across tree branches and has a unique eight-eye arrangement and spiny legs.
• Simonia lawbah is the first recorded species of the Simonia genus in India, while Hamataliwa papikonda is the first record of the Hamataliwa genus in Andhra Pradesh.
• The discoveries were published in the international journal Zootaxa and the Records of the Zoological Survey of India.