At first glance, the spider above looks ordinary. If you are afraid of spiders, you will instinctively step on it or beat it to death with other tools. However,In the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the oldest known spider (died) at the age of 43. It has been studied for decades and is code-named "16".
Before it, the longevity record holder was a female Mexican tarantula, estimated to be 12 years old when found, and lived for another 16 years in the laboratory, for a total life span of 28 years.
Such a comparison can reveal how special Spider No. 16 is.
Its lifespan exceeds the "former longevity record holder" in the spider world by 15 years, setting a new limit for the lifespan of similar spiders.
What's more,Its life span is achieved in the "wild" state, not in captivity.
museum specimens
If it hadn't been for that accident, its lifespan would have been longer
Spider No. 16 is a species of spider in the family Idiopidae. Its scientific name is Giaus villosus. It is a species endemic to Australia.
It was discovered entirely by chance when scientist Barbara York Main was conducting a long-term study of spiders.
In 1974, she marked a dozen spiderlings in the wild in order to study how this species of spider survived in the wild, focusing on recording their living habits and diet.
Every six months, researchers go to the cave to check for spiders, and No. 16 is one of the study samples.
When studying spiders in the wild, won’t spiders run away?
This is certainly true for the species Giaus villosus, especially the females.
Giaus villosus is a tropical spider with a body length of about 4 cm. It lives in deep caves. Its biggest characteristics are that it is "homey" and "lazy".
Once a female spider digs a burrow, she will not leave it and will live here for life. Even if her burrow is damaged or collapses, she will find a way to repair it (when the male spider reaches adulthood, he will actively go to the female spider burrow to find a mate for breeding).
It will not go out to forage, but will wait and ambush to obtain food. It is also called a "trap spider".
The traps are very interesting. The typical cave opening has a trap door made of "substances such as spider silk, soil, and plants" that can be opened and closed to cover the entrance of the cave.
Some special silk threads will be arranged around it. When prey touches the threads, the spider will quickly come out of the hole and drag the prey into the cave.
Since the establishment of the research project in 1974, day after day, year after year, and semi-annual monitoring has not stopped.
Sample spiders No. 1 to No. 15 have all died in the past few decades. Only Spider No. 16 is tenacious and becomes the only survivor.
Because it took so long, the 16th even witnessed the retirement of project leader Barbara.
In October 2016, researchers checked the situation on No. 16 as usual and found that the door at the entrance of Spider Cave No. 16 had been "violently" damaged and part of the cave had collapsed.
After inspection, I thinkSpider No. 16 was most likely attacked by a parasitic wasp.
Based on the cave's state of disrepair, researchers concluded that No. 16 was dead, and its body would soon become food for parasitic wasp larvae.
The parasitic wasp will lay its eggs inside its body, and when the larvae hatch, they will eat it completely from the inside out.
The researchers lamented this, saying:Although No. 16 is old, it did not die of old age. If it were not attacked by a parasitic wasp, it would most likely live to be 50 years old.
at last
Generally speaking, the average lifespan of a spider like this is between 5-20 years.
Spider No. 16, discovered in 1974, died on October 31, 2016. It was still alive when it was last checked (in the spring of 2016), indicating that it has lived for at least 43 years. So what is the secret of its longevity?
Scientists don’t have a definite answer to this, but there are a few more reliable “theories”, such as:
It spends its life hiding in burrows, reducing the risk of predation;
Adopt the hunting strategy of waiting for the rabbit to save effort;
Normally, metabolism is low and requires less food;
Can adapt to various environments, can resist hunger when food is scarce, and the location itself is relatively remote...
In general,"Lazy" and "homely" play a big role. Of course, it is also possible that you are lucky and win the "genetic lottery" on the 16th.