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Photo: New spider species named after Obama


Aptostichus barackobamai. Photo by Jason Bond.


One of 33 newly described species of trapdoor spiders is named after President Barack Obama, reports Wired.



Like other trapdoor spiders, Aptostichus barackobamai dig underground burrows capped with a silk “trapdoor” which they use to ambush their prey. The new species are described in the journal ZooKeys. Jason Bond, director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, is the lead author of the paper.



But the U.S. president wasn’t the only new spider named after a famous figure, according to Wired.

Other trapdoor spiders have been named after funnyman Stephen Colbert and actress Angelina Jolie.



Aptostichus barackobamai is not the first new species named after Obama this year. Last month scientists named the Spangled Darter (Etheostoma obama), a species of darter fish from Tennessee, after the U.S. President.







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