Newfound Spider Named for Márquez

A fearsome tarantula shrouded in odd "assault" hairs has been found in a mountain run in Colombia. As a reverence to the nation where the new species was discovered, researchers named it Kankuamo marquezi, after Gabriel García Márquez, the Colombian Nobel Prize-winning creator of the exemplary books "100 Years of Isolation" and "Love in the Season of Cholera."

The scientists acknowledged they had another family and types of bug when they analyzed it. The bug's "assault" hairs, or urticating hairs, look not the same as all other known tarantula hairs, the scientists found. Most tarantulas "kick" their urticating hairs at adversaries, however the newly discovered arachnid is the primary known species in its subfamily to utilize its hairs in direct contact assaults, they said.

"This new finding is an awesome commitment to the information of the 8-legged creature in Colombia, and an indication of how much stays to be found," the scientists said in an announcement. [See Photographs of the World's Biggest Insect, the Goliath Birdeater]

Similarly as with different sorts of tarantula, the females are bigger than the guys.

The female tarantula <i>Kankuamo marquezi</i>.

The female tarantula Kankuamo marquezi.

Credit: Dirk Weinmann

The scientists, drove via Carlos Perafán, an entomologist at the College of the Republic in Uruguay, found the tarantula in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Clause Marta mountain extend in Colombia.

The arachnid's class name, Kankuamo, respects the indigenous individuals of Colombia, who live on the eastern incline of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Clause Marta, and whose culture and dialect are very nearly termination, the scientists said.

The species name pays tribute to Márquez (1927-2014), the well known Colombian creator who won the Nobel Prize in writing in 1982.

While Márquez is celebrated for his enchanted authenticity, the newly discovered tarantula will probably be known for its exceptional pointed hairs. These hairs likely advanced to shield the creepy crawlies against direct contact, the analysts said.

A nearby up of the hairs on the newly discovered tarantula <i>Kankuamo marquezi</i>.

A nearby up of the hairs on the freshly discovered tarantula Kankuamo marquezi.

Credit: Carlos Perafán

By concentrate these interesting pointed hairs, the analysts would like to reveal how K. marquezi is identified with the distinctive subfamilies inside the Theraphosidae group of tarantulas, and to find out about "the developmental weights that offered ascend to the urticating hairs," the scientists said.

The review was distributed online June 29 in the diary ZooKeys.

Unique article on Live Science.