New giant tarantula species found in Sri Lanka

A new giant tarantula, about the size of a human face and with a leg span up to eight inches across, has been discovered in northern Sri Lanka.

 

The spiders of the genus Poecilotheria are indigenous to India and Sri Lanka and are colorful, fast —and venomous, Wired.com reported.

 

Scientists said these spiders, which live in trees in Mankulam, were given the species name "rajaei" after a local police inspector who helped the scientists who discovered the spider navigate post-civil war northern Sri Lanka.

 

“They are quite rare. They prefer well-established old trees, but due to deforestation the number have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings,” said Ranil Nanayakkara, co-founder of Sri Lanka’s Biodiversity Education and Research, whose team discovered the spiders.

 

What sets the spider apart from similar species are a pink abdominal band on its legs and underside.

 

Its leg markings can include geometric patterns with daffodil-yellow and grey inlays on the first and fourth legs.

 

“This species has enough significant differences to separate it from the other species,” it quoted Peter Kirk, editor of the British Tarantula Society‘s journal, as saying.

 

Kirk also said he wants to see DNA sampling done on all the species of Poecilotheria.

 

First sighting

 

A survey of Sri Lankan arachids led by Nanayakkara first saw the new spider in October 2009.

 

At the time, a local villager presented Nanayakkara and his team with a dead male specimen that differed from known Poecilotheria in the area.

 

In their search for more samples, they sought help from police inspector Michael Rajakumar Purajah, who accompanied them in areas recovering from a civil war.

 

The team eventually found enough spiders, including those hiding in a hospital, to detail them.

 

On the other hand, arachnologist Robert Raven, curator at the Queensland Museum in Australia, is not entirely convinced the team has found a new species yet.

 

“The description and figures are excellent and will provide a good basis for establishing whether it is a good species,” he said, but added it is still possible the spiders may be a local variant of a related species.

 

So far, about 15 species have been described within Poecilotheria, Wired.com said, with several endangered mainly due to loss of habitat.

 

“Popping new species out in that situation is always going to be fraught with doubt and difficulty,” he added.

 

Wired.com said the spider which most closely resembles P. rajaei is called P. regalis, and so far has only been found on the Indian mainland.

 

But Nanayakkara said he has several more potential new tarantulas up his sleeve, awaiting review. — TJD, GMA News