New tarantula named after Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez

by Shreya Dasgupta on 4 July 2016

Scientists discovered Kankuamo marquezi in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountain range in Colombia.
The new tarantula has a unique way of subduing its enemies — it stabs its butt’s bristled hairs into the enemy directly instead of releasing a flying cloud of sharp hairs into the air as many other tarantulas do.
The scientists have named the spider’s genus Kankuamo, which refers to a group of indigenous people of the Chibcha family from the Caribbean region of Colombia that live on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

Scientists have discovered a new species of tarantula in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountain range in Colombia. And it is badass.

Many tarantulas subdue their enemies by shooting a ball of barbed hairs into the air. They do this by vigorously rubbing their hind legs against their bellies. The hairs have sharp tips that can then penetrate into the enemy’s skin or mucous membrane, causing irritation.

But the new species, named Kankuamo marquezi, likes to get really close to its foes. Instead of releasing a flying cloud of sharp hairs in to the air, it stabs its butt’s bristled hairs into its enemy’s body directly, according to the study published in the journal ZooKeys.

In fact, the new tarantula’s defense hair and genitalia are so unique that the spider belongs to a completely new genus, the scientists say.

The new tarantula stabs its butt’s bristled hairs into its enemy directly instead of releasing a flying cloud of sharp hairs into the air as many other tarantulas do. Photo by Dirk Weinmann.

The team from universities in Uruguay and Colombia has named the spider’s genus Kankuamo, in reference to a group of indigenous people of the Chibcha family from the Caribbean region of Colombia that live on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Their language and culture are currently at risk of extinction, the authors write.

The scientists have named the spider’s species, marquezi, after famous Colombian writer, Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature for “One hundred years of solitude”.

The team collected specimens from parts of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountain range that are covered mainly by shrubby plants of the families Arecaceae and Chrysobalanaceae. The region is home to snakes of the genus Atractus and frogs of the genera Atelopus.

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