A new Current Biology published study finds that mecysmaucheniidae spiders may be some of the quickest in existence.

Researchers found the family of tiny arachnids has been at the center of what's described as lightning-fast strikes on at least four different occasions.

"These are the fastest-known arachnids so far," lead author Hannah Wood, curator of spiders at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, told Smithsonian magazine.

"Creatures Known as "Trap Jawed"

Wood first started collecting the so-called "trap jaw" creatures roughly a decade ago. She became intrigued with them after witnessing the spiders crawling around with their jaws always open and seemingly ready to pounce.

After moving about 100 of them in with her, she began to monitor their movements using a number of high-speed cameras. Soon she found herself having to induce some of the smaller than a grain of rice creatures into action by poking them in their eyelashes described as attached to a needle.

In time, she had the evidence she needed after monitoring many of the creatures snapping their jaws shut at breakneck speeds never seen before. The fastest ones she captured clapped its jaws at speeds high-speed video recorded as a tenth of a second.

Abilities Appear Genetic

Not all the spiders proved so gifted, with Wood concluding that only about one in three of the smaller than a pencil creatures moved at such high speeds. Ultimately, she found that genetic analysis concluded the speedsters crossed about four distinct lineages.

Many of the fastest spiders were also found to pack inordinate amounts of strength, with Wood finding that the power output of the fastest jaws exceeded the power output of the spider's muscles.

Researchers concluded that finding suggests that something about the jaw's anatomy of the fastest spiders must allow them to store energy in the same way that the compressed spring in a mouse trap holds enough energy to snap down on an unsuspecting target.