(CNN) A new, large species of spider has been found living in Queensland, Australia, and researchers say it needs protection.
Rare and colorful, the tarantula-like creature is a type of golden trapdoor spider belonging to the genus Euoplos, which since 2017 has been the subject of an extensive research program, according to a study published on March 15 in Journal of Arachnology.
Now called Euoplos dignita, the species was first discovered in the early 20th century, near the towns of Monto and Eidsvold, but it remained undescribed and unnamed due to a lack of research, the author said. of the study Michael Rix, chief curator of arachnology at the Queensland Museum Network, via email.
For many years there were very few specimens of Euoplos dignitas in the Queensland Museum collection, all but one collected before the 1970s. There were no known men among them — which posed a major obstacle for Rix and his research team.
A journey of rediscovery
Having a male specimen is essential to identifying and naming a species within the Mygalomorphae order, of which Euoplos spiders are a part, said Paula Cushing, senior curator of vertebrate zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Cushing, who is also secretary of the American Arachnological Society, was not involved in the study.
“Usually, to know if what you’re looking at is new to science, almost always, with spiders, you have to examine the genitalia,” he added.
So the researchers needed new genetic material that they could test from a living male specimen – which meant they had to find one.
They finally found what they were looking for on a roadside in the Eidsvold-Monto region after a three-day search in May 2021. It was the first collection of the species since the 1990s.
After comparing their find with other specimens in the museum’s collection, the research team officially described Euoplos dignitas. Dignitas is “Latin for dignity or greatness, in reference to the truly magnificent nature of this spider,” Rix said in a YouTube video published by the Queensland Museum Network. “It’s a big, beautiful species.”
Females of the species have a red-brown carapace, burrow-building behavior and can grow up to 2 inches long, which is “very large” for this type of spider, according to the study. Males have a “strikingly ‘honey-red’ carapace and legs,” and their bellies are grayish brown.
“These spiders are pretty cool because they’re so long-lived. Some trapdoor mygalomorphs can live literally decades,” Cushing said. “The longest-lived trapdoor tarantula is 43 years old.”
Protecting Euoplos dignitas
Protection is needed for this rare species, the researchers also found. When the researchers found the male specimen of Euoplos dignitas, they observed that much of the roadside habitat normally available for this species had been cleared for agriculture or had been severely disturbed, which was “extremely destructive for trapdoors spiders, their burrows and the integrity of their habitat,” according to the researchers.
“Until detailed survey work is completed, we won’t know how many remaining populations exist,” Rix said. “But the natural range of the species is small (and) highly fragmented, and we only discovered one living (specimen) at that time.”
