A new species of funnel-web spider has recently been found in the country of Tasmania. The spider was found “hiding” in a wet forest near the city of Weldborough. The country of Tasmania is already home to a variety of different types of spiders. For example, spitting spiders, peacock spiders and jumping spiders are just a few of the better known spiders inhabiting this region of the world. The recently discovered funnel-web species has been named the Blue-Tier funnel web.
The country of Tasmania is so saturated with spiders that researchers with the Queen Victoria Museum have found over thirty different unidentified spiders in Tasmania just during the past eighteen months. A collections officer with the Queen Victoria Museum was the first to find and properly document this funnel-web species. John Douglass, an honorary research associate with the Queen Victoria Museum, was the first to confirm that this new species of funnel-web spider was, in fact, a new species. According to Douglass, the most common question asked of him regarding this new species of funnel-web spider is if this new species is venomous or not. According to Douglass, the answer to this question is yes. However, researchers do not yet know just how venomous this new spider species really is since nobody has been documented as sustaining a bite from one of these spiders.
According to David Maynard, the curator of the Queen Victoria Museum, the museum has recently been receiving tons of spiders in the mail as a result of a program aimed at getting the public involved with spiders. The spiders were delivered by curious individuals so that museum officials could properly identify the specimens. Museum researchers also venture out into the field with the hopes that they may find some unknown species of spider. Already this year, over thirty different spider species have been discovered.
Have you ever embarked on a group hunt to find spiders or insects?
