Scientists have identified three new species of bird-eating spiders native to South America. Exciting news if you love animals that eat things bigger than them!
The new species belong to the genus Avicularia, a group of large, furry tree-dwelling tarantulas that feed on insects, bats, and birds and are capable of reaching 5 to 6 inches in length. A team of researchers narrowed the group from 49 species to 12 in a multi-year reclassification project described in the journal ZooKeys.
First described in 1818 by French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the genus eventually become “a huge mess,” according to the paper’s lead author Caroline Sayuri Fukushima.
Scientists kept adding newly-discovered species to the group, but there was no consensus on what made a spider an Avicularia — apart from the fact that were large and hairy and dwelled in trees.
Analyzing old and new specimens from museum collections around the world, Fukushima and her team sorted through the unwieldy group of spiders and ended up moving several to entirely new genera.
They also uncovered three new species along the way. A.caei is native to Pará, Brazil, A. lynnae lives in Ecuador and Peru and A.merianare is found only in Peru. The latter is named after German naturalist Maria Sybilla Merian, whose famous illustration of an Avicularia spider eating a bird inspired the name of the genus.
At the time, others dismissed the idea of a bird-eating spider as mere female fantasy, says the study’s lead author Fukushima. Now, we know better.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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