Why would you want to put a tiny striped cape on a termite? There are reasons.

The science of the fact that it's absolutely adorable.

I'm Scifry producer Charles Brookquist. It's Tuesday,

February 6th, and indeed, it's still Science Friday. Coming up, we'll talk with researchers trying to decode the role of various colors and patterns as signals in the animal world, including how a tiny striped cape can affect the

behavior of jumping spiders. But first, we go into the forests of Ecuador to meet a newly discovered

tarantula. Here's Ira with Cyfry producer Rasha Rati.

Hi Russia.

Hey Ira. Yeah, so this critter is small, it's pretty fuzzy, and it's kind of shy.

Hmm, are we playing 20 questions here?

Yes, actually.

How about a hint?

It has really cute eyes, eight of them, in fact.

Cute eyes, that magic number eight, it's fuzzy,

so I'm guessing it's not an octopus.

It's not an octopus for once, actually.

I'm talking about tarantula's everybody's favorite critter or so I would like to believe

Especially if you're James Bond but that's another story Russia take it, take it away. Spider scientists in Kito, Ecuador are on a mission to find and describe new species of

tarantulas that live all over Ecuador.

In a recent study, they describe two species that are brand new to science, including one that's affectionately named the Satan spider.

I spoke with the authors of the spidery study, researchers at the Miglomerfei Research Group at the authors of the Spidery Study, researchers at the Miglormore Research Group at the University of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador.

Pedro Peniererera is the founder of the group and Roberto Jose Leon is a biology student and group member.

Roberto and Pedro, welcome to Science Friday.

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