Brain Post: A Spider That Cartwheels & Flips to Travel

A new species of spider, called the Flic-Flack Spider, has been discovered in Morocco that can flip and cartwheel as a form of locomotion.  A spider has never been seen to behave in this manner.  It’s a remarkable way to get around and very efficient, if not dizzying.

This spider propels itself by rolling onto its side and flicking it’s legs to cause it to flip.  It then lands on its feet and repeats.  It can travel fast across flat terrain, uphill, and down hills using this technique.  This spider can travel up to 2 meters per second, which is damn fast for a spider of this size.

This spider has been named Cebrennus rechenbergi and lives in the sand desert of Erg Chebbi in southeast Morroco.  The discovery of this spider had been published in the science journal Zootaxa.