Live
Audio Only
A new species of spider has been discovered in Australia that has found a unique way to breathe underwater. A predominantly marine insect, the spider has been named after as ‘Desis Bobmarleyi’ after Bob Marley, the late Reggae icon from Jamaica.
The discovery published in the open access journal Evolutionary Systematics was put together by a team of researchers from Queensland Museum and the University of Hamburg, which noted the spider adapted to the underwater lifestyle.
Underwater spiders are found in Samoa and Western Australia. The properties of the intertidal species of spiders are very different from the terrestrial spiders. The marine spiders find small pockets of air under barnacle shells, corals or kelp holdfast during high tide.
But the newfound species goes even further as they use their web to build air chambers from silk, and when the sea water recedes, they come out and hunt small invertebrates that are roaming the surfaces of the nearby rocks, corals, and plants.
Both the male and female specimens which are predominantly red-brown in color were found and documented in January from brain coral. They are hairy and have a dense layer of long, thin and dark grey hair-like covering on their eight limbs and lower body.
The female specimens studied were larger in size with measuring up to 9 mm, whereas the male was about 6 mm long.
The researchers said they used the Reggae musician name as "his music aided a field trip to Port Douglas in coastal Queensland, Australia, to collect spiders with a highly unique biology."
Marley gained a cult status in his 30's and died at the age of 36, some of his best works include "One Love," "No Woman, No Cry" and "Redemption Song."
Newsletter
