Scientists 'miserable' after world's oldest-known spider dies in Australia at 43 — from a wasp sting
Scientists in Australia say they are heartbroken after the world’s oldest-known spider has died — from a wasp sting.
The antique arachnid, known as Number 16, passed away at 43, beating the previous record-holder, a Mexican tarantula that met its maker at age 28, according to a study published in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.
“We’re really miserable about it,” Leanda Mason, the study’s lead scientist told England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. “We were hoping she could have made it to 50 years old.”
The female Gaius Villosus, or trapdoor spider, had been under observation in the wild since its birth in 1974, the paper reported, part of research that is the life’s work of Barbara York Main, now 88, who first studied Number 16 shortly after its birth.
“To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider’s behaviour and popular dynamics,” said Mason, a student of Main, in a statement from Curtin University in Western Australia where the research was based.
“Through Barbara’s detailed research,” Mason added, “we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms.”
Trapdoor spiders usually live between five to 20 years, with females staying in or near their burrows, while males wander around searching for females to mate with. They are not considered to be a major threat to humans, although a bite can cause pain and swelling.
Number 16 was monitored in the wild, Agence France-Presse reported. Female trapdoor spiders stay in and around the same burrow virtually all their lives, so the researchers marked her location and went back to check on it regularly.
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