2 mini-spider species found in southwest China

Two new minute spider species with oversized rumps have been discovered in southwest China, according to a new study published in the open access journal Zookeys.

The tiny new spiders are both less than 2 millimeters in length. One of them, Trogloneta yuensis, is as little as 1.01 millimeters, and the other, Mysmena wawuensis, is measured to be the even tinier 0.75 millimeter, which classes it among the smallest spiders known.

According to researchers from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the new species belong to the least studied Mysmenidae family, which is composed of minute eight-eyed spiders.

"The spiders live in moist leaf litter and the obscure places such as moss and even caves and they prefer very humid habitats," said the researchers in a statement on Wednesday. "Being extremely minute, up to 2 millimeters in total and having cryptic lifestyle these creatures become rather hard to find."

Found near giant panda sanctuaries in Sichuan and Chongqing in southwest China, the two new species are considered endemic to their particular regions, they added.