Tuesday, 13 July 2021

As Well As New Discoveries,

sometimes groups of creatures are reclassified and renamed,


like the chap above a trapdoor spider, (Ummidia), photograph Alex Roukis reptiles and wildlifeit has been 50 years since any new species of the genus Ummidia were described, and the technical tools for examine the species (meaning DNA) has come a long way. Rebecca Godwin and Jason Bond from UC Davis have now reworked the spiders' taxonomy and have reclassified and named 33 new species among spiders that have already been studied. You can imagine the opportunity for naming this presented,

U. neilgaimani, U. gingoteague, U. rongodwini, U. okefenokee, U. richmond, U. macarthuri, U. colemanae, U. rosillos, U. mercedesburnsae, U. paulacushingae, U. waunekaae, U. gertschi, U. timcotai, U. gabrieli, U. pesiou, U. rodeo, U. huascazaloya, U. anaya, U. cuicatec, U. brandicarlileae, U. riverai, U. frankellerae, U. hondurena, U. yojoa, U. matagalpa, U. carlosviquezi, U. varablanca, U. quepoa, U. cerrohoya, U. quijichacaca, U. tibacuy, U. neblina, U. tunapuna.

You might recognize some of the names. U. neilgaimani is for author Neil Gaiman, who had another spider named for him in JanuaryU. gabrieli is named for musician Peter Gabriel, U. brandicarlileae is for singer Brandi Carlile, and quite a few others are named for scientists, for myself I am surprised there is not a U. stanlee, or any name after any of the actors that played Spiderman.


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