Scientists Just Found a Smiling “Happy-Face” Spider in the Himalayas

Scientists in India have discovered a new spider species with distinctive red smile-like markings on its back in the Himalayan mountains of Uttarakhand, challenging the century-old belief that such "happy-face" spiders existed only in Hawaii. The team from the Forest Research Institute and Regional Museum of Natural History named the species *Theridion himalayana* and documented 32 color variations among specimens collected from three sites above 2,000 meters elevation. DNA analysis confirmed the Indian spider represents a separate evolutionary lineage with approximately 8.5% genetic variation from its Hawaiian counterpart, and the spiders were frequently found on ginger plants, raising questions about the species' evolutionary history and the adaptive function of their striking markings.