Scientists have identified four new tarantula species in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. The new spiders were, scientifically speaking, such freaks, on a physical and genetic level, the researchers felt it only fitting to invent a whole new genus to categorize them: Satyrex.
Named after the mythological sitar from Greek mythology and the Latin word for “king,” it is also a fitting name given that the male’s most defining feature is the appendage it uses for mating, called a palp. What makes it so special? These Satyrex spiders have a bigger palp than any other spider recorded in this group.
New Tarantula Species Found With an Unusually Huge Sex Organ
Publishing their findings in the journal ZooKeys, scientists say the Satyrex ferox can reach about 14 centimeters, with its palp’s stretching up to five centimeters. That is what we would refer to as well-endowed for a spider. Maybe a little abnormally large in fact. Disproportionately so, even.
Researchers think this might be a part of a survival tactic. In species where females can get aggressive, longer palps may allow males to mate from a safe distance so they don’t become a post-sex snack.
Behaviorally, these spiders were kind of a—holes. They tend to be fierce, especially the ferox, whose name specifically implies, often reacting aggressively to minor disturbances. When it gets annoyed, it raises its front legs and produces a hissing sound by rubbing specialized hairs together.
All Satyrex species are fossorial, meaning they live underground and build burrows near shrubs or rocks. Their reclusive natures likely contributed to their late discovery.
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