Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The kimura-gumo (Heptalhela kimurai) is a spider, named after Kimura Arika, who discovered it in 1920. It belongs to the sub-order Liphistiomorphae (primitive burrowing spiders). The word kumo or gumo in Japanese generically means spider. The kimura spider is near 400 million years old and it is among the most primitive still living spiders. It has spinning glands in the middle of the body. This location is not very effective. It fixs its eggs on the surface with a cobweb, so they are well protected. The spider surrounds underground tunnels also with a cobweb. When it sets out on a hunt, it pulls the thread with itself. This helps it in orienting itself. Reference: Tomo Kočar, Strah je okrogel in ima osem nog (The fear is round and it has eight legs), GEA 12 (2002) 7, pp 46 - 49. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.