Cartwheeling Spiders

I've seen cartwheeling spiders on nature shows before and marveled at them.  Today comes a report of a newly-discovered species, C. rechenbergi.  What is different about this spider is how it cartwheels.  From the Scientific American report by Bec Crew:

What separates the cartwheeling C. rechenbergi from the golden wheel spider is how much energy is required to perform the behaviour. While the golden wheel spider uses the slope of the hill to propel it away from its predators, C. rechenbergi does all the work to achieve its locomotion. And this can exhaust it so much, reports Jäger, that it can sometimes cartwheel itself to death. “In contrast to the wheeling behaviour inCarparachne aureoflava, it is an active energy-consuming movement, which can lead to the death of the individual when performed some times in succession.”

Video (in German):



Nature is a wonder.

6 May 2014