New Spider-Like Crab Species That Climb Tall Trees Gets Discovered In South India

Scientists have recently discovered a new spider-like crab species that climb trees and live in holes above the ground. They have been appearing around Asia and the latest batch has been found in south India. The new species is named "Kani maranjandu" after the Kani tribal community that originally found them.

In the forests of south India, the Kani were able to discover a new spider-like crab species. These crustaceans climbed trees and lived in tree-holes above the ground. According to National Geographic, the "Kani maranjandu" species is named after the Kani and the colloquial term for tree crab, which is "maranjandu".

In 2014, the Kani community spotted these crabs that crawled up forest trees. Although elusive, Biju Kumar, a professor of aquatic biology at the University of Kerala, and his student, Smrithy Raj, managed to catch a few of this new spider-like crab species. These crabs have a hard outer shell and extremely long, curved legs that make it easy for them to climb trees.

These crabs live in the holes of tall evergreen trees. Known for being particularly good climbers, this new spider-like crab species can get up to as high as thirty feet above the ground, which is rare among crabs. Kumar emphasized the importance of preserving the Western Ghats forests in south India since a change in the crabs' habitat could mean their extinction.

Other scientists, like Peter Ng, a biologist from the National University of Singapore, marveled at the ability of the crab species to evolve in order to survive. The Asian Scientist reported that Ng was also involved in the study of another new spider-like crab species in Hong Kong.

These crabs were seen walking along the barks of trees at a height of 1.5 to 1.8 meters. They had long legs and claws. They are called "Haberma tingkok" and are part of a small genus. There are a few new spider-like crab species popping up now and scientists theorize that this has something to do with the changing habitats and ecosystem that force these creatures to evolve and adapt.