Researchers from Slovenia and the United States have found in Africa a new species of thegiant nephila spiders, famous for weaving thelarger circular fabricsof the world. Your networks can reachone meter in diameter.
The arachnid is the first of this genus to be discovered since 1879, and also the largest of the family. The first spiderNephila It was discovered by Linnaeus in 1767. Since then they have been described150 species, that the discoverer of the new spider, the Slovenian Matja? Kuntner, hasreduced to15 after showing that many specimens kept in natural science museums belonged to the same species.
In 2000, Kuntner and his colleagues foundtwo preserved specimensof what seemed to them anew speciesin a museum ofSouth Africa. In 2003, a second specimen from Madagascar and preserved in theNatural History Museum Viennafrom Vienna (Austria) confirmed his suspicions. Since then, as reported today in the magazinePLoS One, tried unsuccessfully to find living specimens, until a South African entomologist found two females and a male in their country, in theTembe Elephant Park, KwaZulu-Natal. Kuntner then baptized the speciesNephila komaci, in memory of his late friend, scientist Andrej Komac.
Now Kuntner has requested the collaboration of the public tosearch for new populations of the rare spider in Madagascar, where until now they have not found any specimen. “We fear that this species is in danger,” they confess. Not surprisingly, “at the moment there is evidence of their existence only in two threatened biodiversity hotspots: Maputaland and Madagascar.”
Thesexual dimorphismin the spidersNephilaIs very striking. The body of thefemalesit can reach 3.8 centimeters, while the legs can measure 12 centimeters. The males are five times smaller and, although they seem “miniatures” next to their partners, they are the “abnormally giants”.
