Rare species of spider found

THRISSUR: Cryptothela Sundaica, a rare species of spider, has been spotted at Thodupuzha in Idukki. A V Sudhikumar, an arachnologist with the Zoology Department of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, claimed that he spotted a female Cryptothela Sundaica in the jungles near the Thommankuthu waterfall last week. He claimed that the spider was being spotted for the first time after its discovery in 1890 in Udhagamandalam by British arachnologist R F Pocock. A species that is not seen for more than 100 years is considered extinct.