A team from the University of British Columbia (UBC) has identified two previously unknown species of sea spider in the Salish Sea, off Canada’s west coast. It is the first formal description of new species of this group in the region in almost 100 years.
Callipallene pilosuspedes, whose name means ‘hairy feet’ in Latin, has red eyes and long curved spines on its legs. Tanystylum kiixin is named after an ancient Indigenous village site near where it was collected.
The specimens were collected between September 2023 and August 2024, on dives down to 18 metres. The study, published in the journal Organisms Diversity & Evolution, combined detailed observation with DNA analysis and also produced a regional identification guide.
Sea spiders belong to a lineage some 500 million years old and are relatives of spiders, scorpions and horseshoe crabs. The lead author, Cormac Toler-Scott, believes there is still more diversity to be documented in the region.
