''Cebrennus rechenbergi'', also known as the Moroccan flic-flac spider and cartwheeling spider, is a species of
huntsman spider
Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae (formerly Heteropodidae), are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometim ...
indigenous to the sand dunes of the
Erg Chebbi
Erg Chebbi ( Berber: ⴻⵔⴳ ⵛⴱⵉ, ar, عرق الشبي) is one of Morocco's several ergs – large seas of dunes formed by wind-blown sand. There are several other ergs such as Erg Chigaga near M'hamid. Technically all these ergs are w ...
desert in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. If provoked or threatened it can escape by doubling its normal walking speed using forward or backward flips similar to acrobatic
flic-flac
Because ballet became formalized in France, a significant part of ballet terminology is in the French language.
A
À la seconde
() (Literally "to second") If a step is done "à la seconde," it is done to the side. 'Second position'. It can also ...
movements used by gymnasts.
''C. rechenbergi'' is the only spider known to use this unique form of rolling locomotion.
The discovery of the Moroccan flic-flac spider has influenced
biomimetic
Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. The terms "biomimetics" and "biomimicry" are derived from grc, βίος (''bios''), life, and μίμησ ...
robot research, resulting in the development of an experimental robot based on the spider's motion.
[King, R.S. (2013). ''BiLBIQ: A Biologically Inspired Robot with Walking and Rolling Locomotion''. Biosystems and Biorobotics. 2. Springer, Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg. ]
Etymology
The spider is named after its discoverer,
Ingo Rechenberg
Ingo Rechenberg (November 20, 1934 - September 25, 2021) was a German researcher and professor in the field of bionics. Rechenberg was a pioneer of the fields of evolutionary computation and artificial evolution. In the 1960s and 1970s he inven ...
,
bionics
Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.
The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 1 ...
professor at the
Technische Universität Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
. Rechenberg may have first encountered the spider on a trip to Morocco as early as 2006, but it was not until 2008 that he collected the first specimen.
[Im Gespräch: Ingo Rechenberg über eine neu entdeckte Art Rollende Spinnen für den Mars. ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', p. 7. January 10, 2009.] It was initially confused with the Tunisian spider ''
Cebrennus villosus
''Cebrennus'' is a genus of huntsman spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1880. It is considered a senior synonym of ''Cerbalopsis''.
The Moroccan flic-flac spider (''C. rechenbergi''), that uses a flic-flac motion to esca ...
'', but later identified as a separate species by
Peter Jäger Peter Jäger is a German people, German arachnologist, and current Head of Arachnology at the Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
He has named several spiders after celebrities; ...
of the
Senckenberg Nature Research Society
The Senckenberg Nature Research Society (german: link=no, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, until 2008 ''Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft'') is a German scholarly society with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.
Overview
...
.
After observing small variations in the genitalia of the two species and noticing the distinctive flic-flac motion of the spider, Jäger confirmed its status as a new species.
The
holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...
is dated 15 July 2009.
[Jäger, Peter (April 2014). ''Cebrennus'' Simon, 1880 (Araneae: Sparassidae): a revisionary up-date with the description of four new species and an updated identification key for all species. ''Zootaxa'', 3790 (2): 339–350. ]
Description
Jäger describes ''C. rechenbergi'' as a medium-sized huntsman spider. Male bodies measure long; female bodies measure long. Males and females are similarly colored white with black
scopulae
Scopulae, or scopula pads, are dense tufts of hair at the end of a spiders's legs. They are found mostly on hunting spiders, especially Lycosidae and Salticidae. Scopulae consist of microscopic hairs, known as setae, which are each covered in even ...
on their ventral legs, and yellow coloring on their dorsal
opisthosoma
The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma (cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to a ...
and femora.
Behavior
The Moroccan flic-flac spider is nocturnal and is known to feed on moths before sunrise.
It spends the hot desert days in its cool burrow in the sand protected from the sun and predators. The spider creates its dwelling with its
pedipalp
Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") and ...
s (feelers) and bristles, forming long, vertical tubes out of sand and silk.
Using a series of rapid, acrobatic
flic-flac
Because ballet became formalized in France, a significant part of ballet terminology is in the French language.
A
À la seconde
() (Literally "to second") If a step is done "à la seconde," it is done to the side. 'Second position'. It can also ...
movements of its legs similar to those used by gymnasts, the spider is able to actively propel itself off the ground, allowing it to move both down and uphill, even at a 40 percent incline.
This behavior is different than other huntsman spiders, such as ''
Carparachne aureoflava
The wheel spider or golden wheel spider (''Carparachne aureoflava''), is a huntsman spider native to the Namib Desert of Southern Africa. This spider should not be confused with '' Leucorchestris arenicola'', a spider sharing the same common nam ...
'' from the
Namib Desert
The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namib ...
, which uses passive
cartwheeling
A cartwheel is a sideways rotary movement of the body. It is performed by bringing the hands to the floor one at a time while the body inverts. The legs travel over the body trunk while one or both hands are on the floor, and then the feet ret ...
as a form of locomotion.
The flic-flac spider can reach speeds of up to 2 m/s using forward or back flips to evade threats.
Distribution
![ErgChebbi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/ErgChebbi.jpg)
''C. rechenbergi'' lives in the sand dunes of the Erg Chebbi desert located in
Errachidia Province
Errachidia (Berber language: Imetɣaren) is a province located in eastern central Morocco in the region of Dra-Tafilalt.
Errachidia is bordered by Algeria to the southeast and by the Moroccan provinces of Figig to the northeast, Midelt to the no ...
in southeastern Morocco near the border with Algeria.
It is one of 17 species in the genus ''
Cebrennus
''Cebrennus'' is a genus of huntsman spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1880. It is considered a senior synonym of ''Cerbalopsis''.
The Moroccan flic-flac spider (''C. rechenbergi''), that uses a flic-flac motion to esca ...
'', typically found in Northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
[Platnick, Norman I. (2014)]
Fam. Sparassidae
''The World Spider Catalog'', Version 14.5. New York, NY, US: American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
Spider robot
Rechenberg's discovery of the flic-flac spider inspired the development of a biomimetic robot based on the rolling spider locomotion. The design process initially involved at least four generations, with the fourth using six legs in three pairs.
Rechenberg named the working machine model Tabbot, based on the
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
word "tabacha", meaning spider. The model, which is approximately 25 cm in length, can both walk in the sand and turn somersaults to move.
Rechenberg envisions possible uses for the robot "in agriculture, on the ocean floor, or even on Mars".
[Hays, Brooks (6 May 2014)]
Robot mimics cartwheel movement of desert spider
United Press International. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
Notes
References
External links
Technical University Berlin
Ingo Rechenberg demonstrating ''C. rechenbergi'' movementsVideo Cebrennus rechenbergi – the flic-flac spiderVideo of Tabbot
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16735951
Sparassidae
Spiders of Africa
Spiders described in 2014
Rolling animals
Endemic fauna of Morocco