- Title: SLOVENIA: World's largest web-spinning spider discovered in Ljubljana
- Date: 24th October 2009
- Summary: PHOTOGRAPHS OF SPIDERS SHOWN ON COMPUTER SCREEN
- Embargoed: 8th November 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Slovenia
- Country: Slovenia
- Topics: Environment / Natural World,Science / Technology
- Reuters ID: LVA31GULMXLJ0LBLYKPTGPQCY9J7
- Story Text: Slovenian scientist Matjaz Kuntner, chairman of the Institute of Biology at Slovenian Academy of Sciences and his colleague Jonathan Coddington, senior scientist at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History have discovered the largest web-weaving spider known to science.
The "Nephila Komaci", found in South Africa and Madagascar, can reach leg span of 10 to 12 centimetres, almost the size of a human palm and can weave a web of more than 1 metre in diameter.
The spider belongs to the Nephila family, commonly referred to as golden silk orb-weavers for the large, golden-coloured webs that they weave.
"I found that on average the females of this species are the largest among all the Nephila species. Which makes it evolutionary giants, so to speak," Kuntner told Reuters.
"When I say giant I refer to the female. The female body size is pretty gigantic. They reach leg span of 10 to 12 centimetres which is almost a human palm size. Now, the males are tiny in comparison, they only reach about a fifth of female size and much less of her weight," he said.
Scientists say the female likely evolved her extreme size to thwart smaller predators and be able to lay more eggs.
The species that would later be formally named Nephila Komaci was first identified in a South African museum collection in 2000, but was assumed to be extinct.
It was only seven years later during a field trip in a wildlife reserve that scientists found evidence that the species is still alive .
"We do not have images of live Nephila Komaci, the new species. For the simple fact that none of us has actually seen it in the wild. They are so rare apparently," Kuntner said holding a female specimen from the South African museum.
Kuntner said the spider was not dangerous to people dispite its size and being venomous.
"They possess venom, but the venom acts only on the prey they are after, which means large insects. So it can kill them, but it is definitely not poisonous for humans," he said.
The spider was named Komaci in honour of Kuntner's best friend and fellow scientist Andrej Komac, who was encouraging Kuntner to continue with his reserach of Nephila spiders and who recently died in an accident. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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