Moroccan flic-flac spider
This sandy coloured spider lives in the big sand dunes of the desert in Morocco. When something scares it, it does flips like a gymnast to get away. It is the only spider in the world known to move like this.
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Fun facts
By flipping, it moves twice as fast as when it walks, up to 2 metres a second. That is as fast as a person walking slowly.
It can flip forwards or backwards, and even uphill on a sand dune.
During the hot day it rests in a cool tube it builds out of sand and silk.
Scientists built a robot called Tabbot that rolls and flips like this spider. Its name comes from a Berber word for spider.
It was only found in 2008, which makes it a very new spider for science.
Most asked questions about Moroccan flic-flac spider
?How does the flic-flac spider move?
It walks normally, but when it is in danger it does fast flips across the sand like a gymnast.
?Where does the flic-flac spider live?
Only in the sand dunes of the Erg Chebbi desert in Morocco.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cebrennus rechenbergi
- Named by
- Jäger, 2014
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Sparassidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Sparassidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Cartwheeling spider
Where the facts come from
- Cebrennus rechenbergi (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ingo Rechenberg. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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