Scientists find that trap-jaw spiders strike prey with lightning speed

On first glance, Mecysmaucheniidae spiders, which live exclusively in New Zealand and southern regions of South America, do not look like much to the naked eye. Because they are minute spiders that hunt for prey on the ground, they are hard to spot, even with keen, trained eyes. But now, a team of researchers led by Smithsonian scientist Hannah Wood has discovered that these spiders are more remarkable than they look, with a surprising ability to strike their prey at lightning speed and with super-spider power, according to new findings reported in the scholarly journal Current Biology.