Even More Spiders (23) Discovered in Australia!

Those incredible scientists in Australia just keep finding more and more new spider species in the vast desert landscape of Australia. Prior to this find, another one that found a whopping 26 new species was reported only months ago. Those spiders just keep popping up. Some of these new ones demonstrate behavior never before seen in other spider species. Now we have another 23 species of spiders coming out of Australia to dream of (or more likely have nightmares about) when we go to sleep.

Now tourists have 23 new terrifying spider species to look forward to terrorizing them during their vacation down under. Dr. Robert Raven, an arachnologist at the Queensland Museum is the main man to thank for these new discoveries. His paper titled “Memoirs of the Queensland Museum” provides details about these 23 new spider species and is the culmination of many years of hard work and research trips taken to discover and document these new species. The species include spiders that inhabit areas all across Australia, including New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory, Tasmania, and even New Caledonia. Dr. Raven named the different species after Hollywood icons such as Jack Nicholson, Australian surfer Mick Fanning, and other well-respected colleagues such as Professor Brian Greene.

The new species come from the generas Dolomedes, Ornodolomedes, Megadolomedes, Dendrolycosa and Mangromedes. Among them are species that were previously considered “lost” that have now been “rediscovered”.  One major find is the new species from the Dolomedes genus, from which only two specimens had previously been collected over the past century. Dr. Raven and his team discovered numerous new species belonging to the Dolomedes genus. One of the incredible new species of spider he discovered actually hunts their prey on water, using vibrations coming from waves and other disturbances to detect them. Many of the new species are quite stunning as well, with brilliant colors and striking patterns covering their bodies. Doesn’t that make you want to hop on a plane headed straight for the Australian outback?

How many more undiscovered spider species do you think are lurking in remote areas like the Australian outback or the rainforest? How does the discovery of these new species help scientists make breakthroughs in areas other than arachnology?