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This story is from November 18, 2007
New spider found in Melghat
A new species of a one centimetre-long spider has been discovered in Amravati’s Melghat Tiger Reserve.
The one centimetre-long insect was found during an extensive study conducted recently by a group of 30 research students from Amravati University and Nature Conservation Society.
It took one and a half months to confirm the find. More than 115 species from 19 families have been recorded by the research students.
G N Vankhede, the head of zoology at the university, told TOI, "I have the world literature on spiders and I went through every species to co-relate with our find. But none matched the spider we found. It’s a female spider and a hunt is on for its male counterpart."
He said the spider appears like a small fish and has a silvery or milky white abdomen. "Its arch-shaped torso makes it different; we have never seen it taper down to two lobes. That’s why it doesn’t belong to any existing family. It’s from a totally different family."
The group took the help of U A Gajabe, India’s spider expert who recently retired from the Zoological Survey of India, to confirm their discovery. Gajabe confirmed that the spider belonged to a new family.
Dr Vankhede said the fact that it was a spider could be confirmed from its eight legs and that it was in its web when spotted. "Its movement is also like that of a spider. It runs away when disturbed but has very weak movements compared to other spiders."
Melghat is also home to the Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti), which was believed to be extinct but rediscovered in 1997.
Conservationists are excited about the discovery. Wildlife conservationist Kishor Rithe said, "There aren’t many people who look for spiders. Arachnids and insects rarely draw the interest of naturalists, forget about the common public. However, their contribution in the ecosystem goes unnoticed. They keep the soil healthy and maintain the balance of the insect population."
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