It must have been an incredible moment in the lives of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield when they were each named the new Spider-Man. I wonder how that compares to having an actual spider named after you though. Weâll have to ask them, now that two new species of spider have been christened in honor of the two most recent Peter Parkers (Peter Parkii?).
Discovered in Iran by Yuri M. Marusik and Alireza Zamani, the two new spiders were dubbed Filistata maguirei and Pritha garfieldi. Iâm not a spider expert (though, apparently, Iâm the only one in my house able to kill them), so you can read the full paper about their discovery here.
Both spiders are actually members of the same family, Filistatidae (also known as crevice weavers). Filistata maguirei was found in âthe surroundings of the Geno Biosphere Reserve,â which is located in Iranâs Hormozgan Province, and Pritha garfieldi was found crawling âin the southern macroslopes of the Alborz Mountainsâ in Iranâs Tehran Province.
Okay, letâs see what these new spiders look like.
Tobey Maguire was first, so he gets to start, letâs see Filistata maguirei.
KILL IT! KILL IT! THATâS THE SPIDER FROM ARACHNOPHOBIA!
Sorry. Sorry. Instinct and all. That must be the hardest part of being an arachnologist: fighting your natural urge to step on the actual spiders. Iâll be better with the next one.
Hereâs Andrew Garfieldâs spider, Pritha garfieldi.
BURN IT! BUUUUURNNNN IT NOOOOWWW!
â¦â¦â¦
â¦Iâm embarrassed.
Well, at so long as these things stay in Iran I should be fine. Let me just checkâ¦
âFilistatidae is a relatively small, globally-distributed family currently comprising 121 extant species within 18 genera–â
Okay then, good luck with your planet of horrible spiders. Iâll be taking a spaceship somewhere else now. For those of you staying, tell us in the comments what other superhero actor youâd like to see lend his or her name to a new species.
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HT: GeekTyrant
Spider Images: Yuri M. Marusik and Alireza Zamani
Feature Image: Columbia Pictures