Newly discovered spider has happy face on its back
- Animals, Biology, Conservation, Environment, Evolution, SCIENCE, Spiders, Wildlife
- May 19, 2026

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The happy-face spider (Theridion grallator) is famous for the particularly cheery looking patterns on top of its abdomen. Ecologists in Hawaii first described the tiny, vibrantly green arachnids in 1900, and have long assumed them to be unique to
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Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Humans have contended with crocodiles for a really long time. The recent discovery of an ancient crocodilian species sporting a strange snout indicates the reptiles may have even preyed on our earliest known hominin ancestor. The species detailed in
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