Emily Chan
Way up in the mountains of central Asia, a bizarre, hairy creature skitters across the rocky ground. Scientists who were hiking in the remote region happened to spot the animal and determined it to be a new species.
In 2023, researchers ventured into the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan to survey the largely unexplored wildlife there. During the expedition, they came across a pair of wolf spiders hiding underneath some rocks.
When they examined the features of the spiders more closely, they realized it was a species that hadn’t been seen before. They named it Pamirosa kudratbekovi or Kudratbekov’s wolf spider. They are less than an inch long and have hairy bodies with eight legs and eight eyes.
The spider’s body is a dark reddish brown color. Its backside has a blurry herringbone pattern. The male spiders have spiral-shaped reproductive organs, while the females have reproductive organs that are shaped like a screw. This is something that is not found in other wolf spiders.
Kudratbekov’s wolf spiders like to burrow under rocks. They live at elevations of roughly 15,400 feet. The species was named after the mountains in which it was discovered, and the head organizer of the expedition, Uvaido Kudratbekov.
So far, Kudratbekov’s wolf spider has only been detected in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan, a country in central Asia that borders Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
There are around 2,300 species of wolf spiders in the world. They are the most common type of spider globally. The larger species are usually found in warmer climates in regions of Asia, Africa, and Australia.
They do not spin webs like most spiders do. Instead, they roam over the ground through areas with low vegetation, where they actively hunt for prey. Wolf spiders can also climb trees if they need to, but they prefer to stay on the ground. They are named for the way they stalk and pounce on their prey like wolves with incredible speed.
These carnivores feast on insects like crickets and other spiders. They use their venom to immobilize their prey. Large female wolf spiders may even go after lizards or small birds.
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