Spiders: 50,000 different species of known arachnids
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Female Guriurius minuano - the 50,000th spider species to be discovered
It's a number that may send shivers down your spine - but there are now 50,000 different species of spiders crawling around planet Earth!
The World Spider Catalogue (WSC) - the organisation that officially lists spiders - has announced it has recorded it's 50,000th eight-legged arachnid.
The WSC, based at the Natural History Museum of Bern in the Swiss capital, said the 50,000th spider registered is the Guriurius minuano - a type of jumping spider that lives in southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Better yet, the specialist spider researchers - known as arachnologists - say there could be another 50,000 spiders species still waiting to be found!
Did you know? Abandoned spider's webs are known as cobwebs
The first species of spider was scientifically described over 200 years ago in 1757.
Although it has taken 265 years to discover and record the first 50,000 species of spiders, researchers are confident it may only take 100 years to find the rest.
"We estimate that there are still approximately 50,000 more spider species out there to discover," say the publishers of the World Spider Catalog.
Did you know there are approximately 650 species of spider in the UK alone!
Top spider facts with spider expert Simon Garrett
The WSC said: "Spiders are the most important predators in Earth's terrestrial habitats, and their ecological significance should not be underestimated."
"Consuming some 400 to 800 million tonnes of insects every year, they are the most important regulators of insect populations.
"Accordingly, they are also of fundamental importance to humans."
What do you think of spiders? Scary or cuddly? Let us know in the comments!
- Published2 July 2021
- Published28 April 2021
