David Bowie names a new genus of wandering spiders

Aug. 5 () –

A new genus of the wandering spider family has been named after the late singer David Bowie, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the birth of this pop legend.

Within the genus Bowie gen. nov. originally from Asia, the arachnologist of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History MuseumPeter Jager, Dr. described 54 new species of spiders.

By naming spiders after a celebrity, the spider researcher from Frankfurt wants to draw attention to the still largely unexplored diversity and need for protection of eight-legged creatures. The study is published in the journal Zootaxa.

The family of wandering spiders (Ctengae) includes smaller representatives with a body length of only two millimeters and comparatively large spiders with a length of up to five centimeters, all of which are found mainly in the tropics. Wandering spiders are nocturnal, live nomadically and hunt freely without a web. The most prominent representative of this family is probably the “Brazilian wandering spider”, which is one of the few spiders whose bite can also endanger human life.

“By examining species from a predominantly Asian lineage in this family, I soon realized that they could not be assigned to any pre-existing genus,” he explains. it’s a statement arachnologist Peter Jäger of the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, and continues: “I think therefore, I dedicated this new genre to David Bowie and just called it Bowie.”

This is not the first time that Jäger has given a prominent name to its new eight-legged discoveries: among others, it has already honored Greta Thunberg, Nina Hagen, Boyan Slat and Malala Yousafzai as namesakes. By naming the hunting spider species Heteropoda davidbowie, the spider researcher from Frankfurt in 2008 already proclaimed himself a fan of the British musician, who died in 2016.

So why now also dedicate an entire genre of spiders to David Bowie? “On the occasion of Bowie’s 75th birthday, I wanted to commemorate this incomparable artist who left us too soon, but what matters most to me here is the idea of ​​conservation: we only protect what we know, and a catchy name is much more likely to be rememberedJager explains.

With the 54 newly described species Bowie gen. nov. it is the second largest genus within the wandering spider family. Species are found from Nepal and southern India, through much of South and Southeast Asia, to Papua New Guinea. An undescribed species is also known from northern Australia. Members of the new genus live in the leaf litter of forests, and most species have a small range, usually within a radius of 100 kilometers.

“Especially these endemic species that are restricted to a very specific area should be considered potentially endangered, even small changes in their habitat can lead to extinction“Jäger adds.

The newly described species bear names such as Bowie ziggystardust, Bowie majortom or Bowie heroes, in reference to the successes or characters of the musician. In the northwestern part of the range, older Bowie songs served as the inspiration for the naming; in central areas, names like Bowie Teenagewildlife or Bowie Chinagirl can be found, while in southeastern New Guinea, Bowie’s latest work is commemorated by Bowie Lazarus and Bowie Blackstar.