Scientists have discovered three new species of rare jumping spiders

Researchers have discovered a new species of rare jumping spider. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Three new species of rare jumping spiders, genus Onomastus, have been discovered by a team of researchers from India and Sri Lanka, with two found in the Brahmagiri Mountains, Wayanad and Silent Valley National Park, Palakkad, and the third in the montane forests of Sri Lanka.

Researchers have discovered a new species of rare jumping spider. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

A team consisting of Athira Jose, PhD student at Christ College, Irinjalakuda, and Prof. AV Sudhikumara, in collaboration with prof. A fourth species of the same spider family was also rediscovered in Tamil Nadu by SP Benjamin of the National Institute of Basic Studies (NIFS), Sri Lanka, which had remained unseen by humans for over a century.

Researchers have discovered a new species of rare jumping spider. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

A study published in the journal Zootaxa describes Onomastus brahmagiri from the Brahmagiri Hills; O. silentvalley from the forests of Silent Valley National Park, representing the endemism of the respective hills; and O. wijesinghei from the montane forests of Sri Lanka. The redescribed O. patellaris was rediscovered from Pampadum Shola National Park, part of the Kodaikanal-High Range shola landscape type locality. The discovery shed light on the unique evolutionary history of the montane forests of the Western Ghats, according to the report.

Onomastus belongs to one of the oldest lineages of jumping spiders and is restricted to the eastern region. Along with the taxonomic discoveries, the researchers performed a morphological phylogenetic analysis that recovered a distinct Indian lineage of Onomastus and supported the separation of highly diverse upland Southeast Asian and less diverse lowland Southeast Asian evolutionary lineages.

According to the researchers, the findings support the “sky island” concept, in which isolated mountain habitats act as natural islands, promoting long-term geographic isolation, speciation and high levels of endemism. The shola forests of the Western Ghats provide ideal conditions for such evolutionary processes due to their extensive grasslands and low-altitude valleys.

The newly described species are known only from isolated montane forests and are thought to have limited dispersal ability. Because of their very limited distribution in these misty mountain habitats, they may be particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures, habitat degradation, and other impacts of climate change and human activities. Scientists say the findings highlight the need to protect shola forest ecosystems, which contain evolutionarily distinct species found nowhere else.

Published – 12 Jul 2026 01:39 IST