Number of spider species creeps up to 50,000 / Photo: ©
-
Far-Right Extremists Claim Opportunity to Seize Control of GOP After Midterms
-
Japanese-Born Professor Attributes Rise in Korea-Japan Marriages to K-Drama Influence and Affectionate Behavior
-
New Campaign Highlights Knowledge Gaps on Carbon Monoxide Safety Among Americans
-
Economist Testifies Canada Has Limited Power to Alter Global Climate
-
JR East Launches 'teppay' to Integrate Suica Balance with Mobile Payments
-
Dublin Band Aslan Headlines Our Lady’s Hospice Light Up A Life Ceremony
-
Phil Spencer on Housing Market Fairness: How Buyers and Sellers Navigate Falling Prices
-
UAE Cabinet Approves Up to Dh350,000 in Disaster Relief for Citizens
-
Beirut Cinema Festival Draws Thousands Despite War Fatigue
-
Korea's Severe Asthma Patients Blocked from Biologics by Restrictive Reimbursement Rules
-
AMD Forecasts First-Ever Revenue Lead Over Intel on AI Chip Surge
-
COP31: Ana Toni Outlines Fossil Fuel Transition Roadmap Ahead of Climate Talks
-
GoodData.AI Launches the Agentic Serving Plane, a New Category of Enterprise Data Infrastructure for AI Agents
-
Securitas Healthcare Introduces a New Era of RTLS Built for the Future of Healthcare Operations
-
Abu Dhabi Demand Response Project Achieves 401 MW Peak Reduction in 2025
-
First-time boat buyers advised to assess full ownership costs
-
Panthers expected to begin 2027 NRL season away from new stadium
Number of spider species creeps up to 50,000
There are now 50,000 known different species of spider crawling the Earth, the World Spider Catalog announced Wednesday -- and there might be another 50,000 out there.
The WSC, based at the Natural History Museum of Bern in the Swiss capital, said the 50,000th spider registered is the Guriurius minuano, which belongs to the Salticidae family of jumping spiders and hunts its prey on shrubs and trees in southern Brazil, Uruguay, and around Buenos Aires.
It was described by the arachnologist Kimberly S. Marta and her colleagues from Brazil and is named after the now-extinct Minuane people who lived in the area.
The first scientific description of a spider was in 1757 and while it has taken 265 years to reach 50,000, the rate of discovery is steadily increasing, and it is thought it could take less than 100 years to discover the same number again.
"We estimate that there are still approximately 50,000 more spider species out there to discover," said the WSC's publishers.
The spider catalogue is freely available on the museum's website.
"Spiders are the most important predators in Earth's terrestrial habitats, and their ecological significance should not be underestimated," the museum said.
"Consuming some 400 to 800 million tonnes of insects every year, they are the most important regulators of insect populations. Accordingly, they are also of fundamental importance to humans."
M.Furrer--BTB
