New spider discovered: a nocturnal, fast-moving toad hunter

November 28, 2023 7:59 PM

New spider discovered: a nocturnal, fast-moving toad hunter.

A recent project by researchers with the University of Southern Queensland, published in the international journal Zootaxa, has named and described 48 new ground-hunting spiders, with some named after notable Australians.

Dr Robert Raven believes there are around 15,000 different spider species in Australia.

Fewer than 3000 spider species have been identified so far in Australia.

posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (12 comments total)

Fewer than 3000 spider species have been identified so far in Australia.

That really surprises me. I don't live in Australia but I sometimes feel like I have 3,000 spider species living in or around my house. As far as I can tell there are spiders for every imaginable niche.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:29 PM on November 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Miturgopelma rangerstaceya

This is a huge thing for Australian television watchers of my childhood cohort
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 11:02 PM on November 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

First they came for the toads. But I was not a toad, so I said nothing ...
posted by Paul Slade at 12:38 AM on November 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

Never a new color discovered.

Never a new musical note.

It’s always spiders.
posted by chronkite at 4:13 AM on November 29, 2023 [18 favorites]

For the uninitiated. It's quite poetic, Agro was a bit of a toad.
posted by neonamber at 4:29 AM on November 29, 2023

In kindness to the non-Aussies, Fiasco da Gama is referring to Ranger Stacey, who was a pretty big deal on Totally Wild! a TV show that was all about Australian wildlife and she was one of the main educators... kind of a Steve Irwin and around the same era
posted by chmmr at 5:30 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Look, if there weren't spiders to eat the toads, we'd be making jokes about Australia as "that place with all the toads," so I say "good for the spiders." Maybe they could learn to eat Cane Toads; that would be helpful.

Never a new color discovered.

I mean, technically, each spider species is a different color.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:16 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maybe they could learn to eat Cane Toads; that would be helpful.

Yeah, great. A bunch of Cane Toad-eating spiders on a Cane Toad buzz running wild in the streets. I'll take my chances with the Drop Bears.
posted by mule98J at 6:38 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

A bunch of cane-toad eating spiders on a cane-toad buzz actually sounds better than the cane toad infestation we already have here in SW FL. And if they also prey on other non-native invasive species -- like the iguanas or giant snails or green mussels or tegus (lizards) or carpetbagging anti-LGBTIQ lobbyists -- I say start importing the spiders, wave after wave to wipe them out!

And if the spiders get out of hand, surely Australia has a fabulous type of emu that thrives on spider meat.
(The beautiful part is come winter the emus will all freeze to death.)
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 9:16 AM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I mean, technically, each spider species is a different color.

I want to get a 15,000 crayon set where each crayon's label just says "Spider."
posted by FatherDagon at 11:37 AM on November 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

And elsewhere spiders keep frogs as pest hunting pets. Looking forward to the frog/spider world a billion years in the future.
posted by clew at 11:47 AM on November 29, 2023

Yeah, let's introduce these toad-eating spiders throughout north-eastern Australia to get rid of the cane toads! I can't think of a single thing that could go wrong*.

*cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935, to control the native grey-backed cane beetle and French's beetle. Significant adverse impacts have been recorded on native fauna, but there is no evidence of any impact on the beetles. I'm sure this will be different.
posted by dg at 2:55 PM on November 29, 2023