Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. A trapdoor spider, known only as “Number 16,” was first ...

In western Australia, in a patch of ancient forest undisturbed by people, researchers set up pitfall traps with the goal of collecting elusive spiders. Their survey yielded two rare female specimens ...

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered a new species of spider living in the state’s coastal sand dunes. The new species, named Aptostichus ramirezae, is a kind of trapdoor ...