A new species of "killer spiders" with huge legs that can bend was discovered in Australia

Recently, Australian researchers in a park in Whitsunday, Queensland, discovered a new species of spider they called pelican spiders. These creatures have "spear-like" legs that they use to capture and kill other spiders for their prey.

Over the past year, researchers have visited the Conway National Park in the Whitsundays several times to study the local wildlife and look for pelican spiders. The experts were looking for "poorly researched" pelican spiders and found eight unfamiliar-looking spiders. The researchers then realized that they had discovered a new species, The Sun reports.

According to the study, these creatures are a "bizarre group" of predators that live in Australia. The Whitsunday Inland Pelican Spider, also known as Austrarchaea andersoni, has a reddish-brown color and an unusual body shape. When the spider's long legs are retracted, it looks compact, but when it extends them, the animal's strange physique is immediately apparent. The spiders are about 0.25 cm long and have two pairs of "rudimentary" horns and several "hump-like" humps on their abdomens. So far, they can only be found in leaves on the ground of the rainforest.

According to a study published May 14 in a peer-reviewed Australian journal, pelican spiders, sometimes called "killer spiders," feed on other creatures by grabbing and manipulating them with their "long, spear-like" legs.

Scientists have identified the new species based on the spiders' physical features, including their body shape compared to other pelican spiders. The photos of the study show the spiders sitting on a branch. The creatures are able to retract and extend their legs.

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