New species discovered

IF YOU’RE an arachnophobic, you may want to take a deep breath.


In a country already awash with eight-legged freaks, biologists are discovering a whole lot more.

On Wednesday, two new species of spider were named. That comes after a further five were named, just a few weeks before that.

Step up, Maratus sapphirus — or the Peacock Sapphire spider — welcome to the world. Joining sapphirus on the podium is Maratus nimbus, both new types of peacock spider.

The two spiders were officially named in a paper written by Australia’s foremost peacock spider hunter, Dr Jurgen Otto and his US colleague David Hill.

But Dr Otto said that far from being freaky, the new discoveries are “cute”.

Chiefly due to their habit of wiggling and posing, he likens them less to poisonous devil creatures intent on paralysing you and then sucking out you innards, and more to, “kittens and puppies”.

“They turn people’s opinions of spiders upside down,” Dr Otto told news.com.au. He said the slew of new spiders could be down to more and more amateur spider fans rummaging around in the undergrowth. Obviously, with gloves.


A group headed by Stuart Harris, a spider hunter from Canberra, found sapphirus last year on a trip to the NSW Sapphire Coast.

“I looked at it and was like ‘that’s a new species’, I just knew straight away,” Mr Harris told the Illawarra Mercury.

“They just went out for a day in the bush to maybe find some pretty spiders and then they found a new species.”

He delivered the spider to Dr Otto who confirmed its uniqueness and signed off on its new name.

“Maratus means peacock spider [and] I suggested the name be something to do with sapphire, because of its colour [and the coast where it was found],” Mr Harris said.

Nimbus, meanwhile, was named because its shading looks like “a group of clouds across the sky at dusk”.

More at source
http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/a-whole-load-of-new-spider-species-have-been-discovered/news-story/a5600b3da2f1cf08d2fed7c6a35c4412

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Spiders good...

Spiders eat pesky bugs, grubs, aphids..

I encourage the spiders in my backyard gardens and fruit trees.

                                         

magica wrote:Haha I laughed Syl, love that smilie

Vintage wrote:Its the only reason I don't faint if encountering a spider, I don't want to be on the floor with the possibility of it crawling over me, ugh all those legs, even worse all those eyes.

Vintage wrote:Yes I think I'll leave it there.
Thanks

Vintage wrote:Thanks Eddie

Syl wrote:

Vintage wrote:Its the only reason I don't faint if encountering a spider, I don't want to be on the floor with the possibility of it crawling over me, ugh all those legs, even worse all those eyes.

I saw a spiders leg on the stairs a while ago, then bits of what looked like its body.... further up the stairs was one of those huge black things that seems to stand up, I think it had  half eaten the other one.

I am leaving this thread now...I just actually screamed when I was writing this because one of my hairs had brushed my bare neck.

Welcome btw. x

eddie wrote:What the actual fucking fuck? I fail to see the 'cuteness' or the hilarity of this thread.

veya_victaous wrote:

eddie wrote:What the actual fucking fuck? I fail to see the 'cuteness' or the hilarity of this thread.

then watch the video

plus these guys are tiny, like the size of a pinky fingernail
they are variants of flower spiders, they even have a nice name
totally harmless to humans