Darwin's bark spider
| Darwin's bark spider | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Genus: | Caerostris |
| Species: | C. darwini |
| Binomial name | |
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Caerostris darwini Kuntner & Agnarsson, 2010 |
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Darwin's bark spider (scientific name Caerostris darwini) is an orb-weaver spider that produces one of the largest known orb webs, ranging from 900 to 28,000 square centimetres (140 to 4,340 sq in), with anchor lines spanning up to 25 metres (82 ft). The spider was discovered in Madagascar in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in 2009. Its silk is the toughest biological material ever studied, over ten times tougher than a similarly-sized piece of Kevlar. The species was named in honour of the naturalist Charles Darwin, with the description being prepared precisely 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, on 24 November 2009.
Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini) is an orb-weaver spider – a member of the family Araneidae. Like other spiders of the genus, they display extreme sexual dimorphism, with large females and small males. Females vary in total body length from about 18 to 22 mm (0.7 to 0.9 in), males being around one third or less of this length, at about 6 mm (0.2 in).
Females are largely black in colour, with white hairs on the cephalothorax (opisthosoma), abdomen and appendages. The upper surface of the cephalothorax has two sets of "humps", one at the sides and one towards the back. The first leg is about 35 mm (1.4 in) long. Unlike other Caerostris species from the region, C. darwini has clearly separated epigynal chambers with a pair of hooks on the posterior (rather than anterior or medial) part of the epigynal plate. The spermathecae and the ducts leading to them are strongly sclerotized (hardened). Males are redder and lighter brown in colour, again with white hairs on the cephalothorax, abdomen and parts of the appendages further from the body. The femora of the legs are red and hairless. The first leg is about 15 mm (0.6 in) long. The palpal bulb has a large conductor with a straight tip, and a longer embolus with a spoon-shaped end than other species from the region.
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