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Neil Young (File Photo) |
BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- American rock star Neil Young isn't the first musician to have a new species named after him -- that honor goes to Roy Orbison whose name graces the whirligig beetle (Orectochilus orbisonorum) -- but he is the first to have his name given to a spider (eat your heart out Spider-Man).
Jason Bond, a biologist at East Carolina University, named a newly discovered arachnid, Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. It is also known as a trapdoor spider.
"There are rather strict rules about how you name new species," Bond said. "As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice."
Bondcame acrossthe trapdoor spider last year in Jefferson County, Alabama, and later he and co-author Norman Platnick of the American Museum of Natural History in New York formally described the species in a journal article.
The genus Myrmekiaphila refers to a group of trapdoor spiders. Like some of its relatives, the newly named spider lives in a burrow and crafts a trap door to seal off its living quarters from parasites and predators. The spider also lurks under the hinged door while waiting for vibrations to signal nearby prey, then springs out and drags its meal back into its lair.
"Just as orb-weaving spiders make webs out of silk, these more primitive spiders also use silk, but not ," Platnick told LiveScience. "They use it to line burrows, and an extension of the lining is part of the trap door."
To identify the "Neil Young" spider as a new species, the scientists examined both its physical features and genetic material. In general, taxonomists rely on differences in genitalia to distinguish one spider species from another. Apparently, spiders have some of the most elaborate genitalia in the animal kingdom.
(Agencies)
