If you’re someone who knows me personally, then you would already know that I delight in freaking people out. If you’re terrified of spiders, I’m going to slowly describe the freakiest ones. If you’re consumed by the thought of a snake wrapping itself around you, you can bet I’ve got some anaconda clips up my sleeve. That’s why today’s bizarre beast brings me such unbridled joy—it’s both!

Endemic to Iran, the spider-tailed horned viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) makes its living among the dry desert rocks. Interestingly, this species is relatively new to science. Though it existed in a museum specimen collection in the late ’60s, it was only formally described as a new species in 2006. A similar incident occurred recently with the “discovery” of the olinguito, which lay cataloged in a study skin collection that went unnoticed for years until its classification in 2013.

While reading this, you may be puzzled over why the spider-tailed horned viper is named as such. As you feebly grasp at straws you may finally shout, “Is it because it has a spider tail?!” in one wild guess, to which I will respond: “Yes, dummy.”

This viper’s tail has leg-like appendages branching off, and a bulbous tip that resembles a spider’s abdomen. But why? Well, like the famous angler fish of the deep sea, this snake is using a lure. Many birds will prey on spiders and thus, the evolutionary pathway of this viper has exploited that, using a wiggling, spider-like tail to pull birds close to the motionless head of the snake. When the bird is within range, the spider explodes into action, delivering a venomous bite with its hollow fangs!

Some scientists had hypothesized that the snake had the spider-tail as a defense mechanism, causing animals with a spider aversion to keep far away. However, since the snake has a separate warning behavior, researchers were somewhat skeptical of this idea.

It wasn’t until recently that scientists obtained video proof of the lure in action, which you can watch below: