New species of spiders discovered in southern Israel

Researchers found Sahastata aravaensis while analyzing how two oil spills in 1975 and 2014 affected spiders in Arava valley; spider looks to prefer clean soil and can be used as a bioindicator of persistent soil pollution in desert habitats
Itamar Eichner|
A new species of desert burrow-dwelling spiders not known to the scientific community have been discovered by Israeli researchers in the southern part of the country.
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  • The spider, which constructs silk-lined nests in burrows, was discovered by researches from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University during the five-year monitoring of oil spill effects on the species. The species was discovered in the southeastern Arava valley.
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    The new spider species
    (Photo: Shlomi Aharon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
    The velvety black spider was named Sahastata aravaensis - based on its habitat. It belongs to the Sahastata genus of the Filistatinae family, also known as the crevice weaver family.
    The spider species that was discovered is the largest of the Filistatinae family in Israel and it stands out with its velvety black color. The researchers estimate the spider's life expectancy to be four years (most spiders live about two years), most of which he spends in a vertical, silk-coded burrow.
    The study that was conducted analyzed how two oil spills that occurred in 1975 and 2014 in the hyper-arid desert would affect the spider populations and concluded that the incidents pose negative and long-lasting effects.
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    The laboratory experiment
    (Photo: Shlomi Aharon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
    The researchers found that the number of arachnid burrows in the areas that were contaminated was significantly lower than the number in other nearby clean areas.
    In laboratory experiments, where spiders were made to choose between contaminated soil and clean one, most species chose the clean soil at the end of the first day of the experiment.
    At the end of the experiment, the researchers assessed that the new species can be used as a bioindicator of persistent soil pollution in desert habitats.
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