Deep in the unyielding darkness of a Brazilian cave, a pale, blind, spiny beast carefully feels its way across rust-colored rocks. Meet Paleotoca diminas, a spider new to science.
The species, described August 5 in Taxonomy, makes its home in unusual subterranean lairs: the long-abandoned burrows of extinct megafauna, such as giant ground sloths or giant armadillos, researchers say.
Arachnologist Igor Cizauskas of the Biodiversity Research Support Organization in São Paulo and colleagues found the P. diminas spiders in iron-rich caves in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. About two millimeters long, the spiders are a desaturated yellow, lack eyes and have prickly legs. They also sport specialized hairs often used by arachnids for sensing vibrations through the air — an adaptation for life in permanent darkness (SN: 10/15/16).
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