New tarantula-like spider discovered in Florida

Creepy crawly alert! A new type of spider has been discovered in Florida, USA.

Staff from Zoo Miami in Florida helped make the discovery by spotting the creature near to their animal park.

But it took years for experts to realise that it's a brand new type of spider, that hadn't been officially spotted before.

It's now called a Pine Rockland Trapdoor spider, as it was found in a pine rockland forest near to the zoo.

The spider was first found by a zookeeper back in 2012 and they shared the photo with their zoo's research team to find out what type it was.

However, it didn't match any of the descriptions the researchers had of spiders in the area.

Photo taken in 2012 when the new spider was first spotted

More than two years later, another spider was found and sent out to experts.

Eventually, it made its way to Dr. Rebecca Godwin, a scientist at Piedmont College in Georgia, USA. She was studying these types of spiders, which are related to tarantulas.

And she's confirmed for them that it's a brand new species that hasn't been discovered before.

The pine rockland forest where the spider was found

Spiders like this are some of the longest living spiders around and can live for decades in the same burrow.

Frank Ridgley from Zoo Miami is excited that even today a new species can be found and said it shows "...the importance of preserving these ecosystems before we lose not only what we know, but also what is still to be discovered."