The researchers have just identified four new species of tarantules whose genitals are so long that they had to make a new biological classification for them.
Meet him Satyrex Ferox,, Saint-Arabe,, S. SomalicusAnd Saint beautiful. They are from the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa and are so different from their closest parents – both at the morphological and molecular level – that the team has created a new genre for them, Satyrex.
“The name of gender is a combination of satyr, a partial and partial entity of Greek mythology known for its exceptionally important genitals, and Latin Rēx, which means King”, wrote the researchers in a study published last month in the journal Zookeys.
Like the satyrs, the males of the four new species, as well as a fifth Satyrex species, have the longest palps of all tarantules. Palps are members that male spiders use, among other things, transfer sperm while coupling. Technically, palpes are not penis but rather secondary sexual organs. Satyrex Feroxof which the legspan measures approximately 5.5 inches (14 centimeters), has male palps up to 2 inches long (5 cm). For comparison, it is almost as long as her longest legs.
Since male spiders, unlike male humans, probably does not compare themselves to their lower regions with each other, what is the interest of the evaluation of this long waste?
For S. Ferox More specifically, “we have temporarily suggested that the long palps could allow the male to keep a safer distance during mating and help him avoid being attacked and devoured by the very aggressive woman,” said Alireza Zamani, principal author of the study and an arachologist at the University of Turku, in a Pensoft blog article (Pensoft Zookeys). Yes, you read that right.
“This species is very defensive. At the slightest disturbance, it lifts its front legs in a threat posture and produces a strong whistling by rubbing the specialized hair on the basal segments of the legs before one,” added Zamani. In fact, Ferox means “fierce”.
In other words, Zamani and his colleagues suggest S. Ferox Can have evolved to have such long genitals because it allows them to have sex without being eaten by their partner. Talk about a bite of love.
In comparison, the names of other species are more boring. Researchers have appointed Saint beautiful For their beautiful colors and Saint-Arabe And S. Somalicus For their original regions. According to the study, the new genre also includes a fifth Satyrex– a species known previously classified in the genus Monocentropusnow called St. LONGIMANUS.
“The much longer palpes of St. LONGIMANUS And the four newly described species were among the main characters who led us to establish a new genre for these spiders, rather than place them in Monocentropus“Concludes Zamani.” So yes, at least in Tarantula’s taxonomy, it seems that size is really important. »»
