Blind luck and Nullarbor cavers help WA Museum bring four new trapdoor spider species into the light

Handy scientific detective work has led to the discovery of four new species of trapdoor spiders in caves on the Nullarbor plain, despite having no live specimens to work with.

Mark Harvey, head of terrestrial zoology at the West Australian Museum, said the discovery of four hitherto unknown species of blind, cave-dwelling trapdoor spiders was made using tiny fragments held in various museums.

“The only specimens that we really had available to work with…