A new species of lynx spider, Hamataliwa mawlyngot, was discovered in Mawlyngot village of the East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya

A new species of lynx spider, Hamataliwa mawlyngot, was discovered in Mawlyngot village of the East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya

¨ A new species of lynx spider, Hamataliwa mawlyngot, was discovered in Mawlyngot village of the East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya, in June 2026.

¨  The species was identified by scientists from the Zoological Survey of India and the University of Calcutta.

¨     The study was published in June 2026 in National Academy Science Letters.

¨  Lynx spiders belong to the Oxyopidae family, which consists of active hunting spiders found on vegetation.

¨     They do not build webs to trap prey; instead, they use their sharp eyesight to stalk and capture insects on leaves and shrubs.

¨  This discovery marks the first recorded presence of the genus Hamataliwa in Meghalaya.

¨     The spider is smaller than a fingernail and was found on hillside shrubs, including Molucca brambles.

¨ Its habitat lies in the East Khasi Hills, which forms part of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot.

¨ The study was authored by Souvik Sen, Upasana Bhattacharya, and Puthoor Pattammal Sudhin.

¨     The discovery extends the known Indian distribution of the genus Hamataliwa and fills a geographical gap between the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.