Not for the faint-hearted: a new giant species of bird-eating spiders was discovered in Cuba (photo)

Scientists in the western part of Cuba discovered a new species of bird-eating spiders. It was named Trichopelma grande.

This was reported by the Journal of Natural History.

This representative of the genus is impressive with its size and amount of hair on its body, which makes it the largest and hairiest among its relatives. Scientists discovered four representatives of the new species, all of which were found within a radius of 20 km from each other, confirming the rarity of this spider.

Thanks to millions of years of isolation, Cuba has preserved a large number of endemic species, and Trichopelma grande has added to their list. The DNA of the captured spiders showed similarities with other representatives of the genus Trichopelma, which allowed scientists to confirm their classification.