If you are one of the millions of people who experience arachnophobia (a fear of spiders), you may want to cancel any upcoming travel to Vinales National Park, which is located on the western side of Cuba.
This park is the home to a newly discovered tarantula species. The new species marks the 23rd entry into the Trichopelma family and is called Trichopelma grande.
That grande bit is a strong hint about its size. This tarantula is the largest of all of the Triocopelma species. David Ortiz is the lead author of a study on this newly discovered spider and talked about it in an interview:
“This is a large species for the tarantula group that it belongs to, the Trichopelmatinae, but not really for tarantulas in general. The largest tarantula species in the world belong to the genus Theraphosa and live in northern South America. They can reach 25–35 mm [0.98-1.38 inches] of carapace length, which is the structure that is most commonly used for measuring the size of spiders because it is rigid. In contrast, the three males of Trichopelma grande that we know of reach 8.4–11.1 mm [0.33-0.44 inches] of carapace length.”
In addition to being quite big, these spiders have surprisingly hairy legs. The stiff hair found on spiders, known as setae, is very stiff and bristle-like. While these hairs are found on many spiders, a common trait is that those with more of them tend to live in trees.
This spider, however, actually lives on the forest floor in a trap-door-style burrow.
So far, researchers have only found three examples of this new type of spider, and they were all male. Sadly, their only known habitat, which is on this island, is under threat from logging and other human activities.
Ortiz commented on this, saying:
“I think that such a unique species deserves to be examined more deeply. The Viñales National Park is especially under threat by human activity (e.g., tree logging) and by extreme weather events like hurricanes. The valley of Viñales is deeply disturbed, and only forest patches remain untouched in the mogotes and sierras scattered along the valley.”
Having the opportunity to study spiders, or any animals, that evolved on an island is always important. Islands provide an enclosed environment where the animals tend to evolve to have unique features due to the reduced genetic diversity and very specific requirements for survival.
Studying these creatures can provide not only information about the spider itself but also evolution more broadly.
I, for one, will not be studying these scary spiders.
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