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New tarantula species discovered in Thailand
- goku12 3y agoOfftopic - The man in the video is very agile on his feet. The trek looks dangerous and a single misstep can end up in a disaster. Respects for people who take such risks to study the forest ecosystem.
- siva7 3y agoI've done similiar paths back in Thailand. It's not so uncommon.
- Avlin67 3y agoSpiderpunk 2077
- wglb 3y agoAnd it is nearly Spider Worship Season here.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- realo 3y ago"This species was previously found on the commercial tarantula market..." Oupsie.
- tpmx 3y agoMost of the google search results for Chilobrachys sp. Electric Blue Tarantula are online stores. Some of them claim to have live specimens in stock. The going price in the UK appears to be about 15-20 GBP.
- SamoyedFurFluff 3y agoI don’t think this is unusual. Hobby collectors can often have collective knowledge that rivals researchers. This is especially true for less popular/well funded species like insects, fish, etc .
- zokier 3y agoIn case of tarantulas, there is active black/grey market trading and smuggling them, so that probably explains why white-hat scientists have hard time following. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/science/spiders-tarantulas-arachnids-trade.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/science/spiders-tarantula...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- assbuttbuttass 3y agoIt sounds like this species has been previously known to hobbyists under the name "Chilobrachys electric blue" I remember seeing this species in YouTube videos from at least a few years ago[0]. It's incredible to me how there's still so much we don't know about our world! [0] https://youtu.be/vDU2sR62v5E?si=eYf7g-ucm3sYSwEx https://youtu.be/vDU2sR62v5E?si=eYf7g-ucm3sYSwEx
- orionex_sigma 3y agoNo, that's a separate species? Edit: apparently not. It's surprising as Well as enraging
- assbuttbuttass 3y agoNot sure why you find it enraging, it's quite common for new species to be well known in the hobby before they're officially named
- orionex_sigma 3y agoIt's because I denounce the exotic pet trade
- imglorp 3y agoSee also the better known Cobalt Blue and Green Bottle Blue tarantulas, very pretty but not the best beginner pets. They shouldn't be handled and need careful climate. Other tarantulas are very easy, like Rosehair or Pink Toes. They need little attention, make no noise, are hardy desert climate dwellers, and can be handled. I had a female Rosehair live for 20 years as a beginner.
- dclowd9901 3y agoYou surprised me. I never expected tarantulas to be noisy in the first place.
- perihelions 3y agoThen you've never met a well-socialized tarantula; they sing and dance all the time. Usually in 6/8. (This etymology is hilariously absurd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantella )
- tpmx 3y agoIn 186 BC the tarantella went underground, reappearing under the guise of emergency therapy for bite victims. What the...
- marcosdumay 3y agoWhen you prohibit something popular, people will make up an excuse for doing it while pretending not to. The excuse will be as stupid and obviously nonsensical as they can get away with. Turns out this is a millenary tradition.
- perihelions 3y agoI'm sure the historians are trying their best, but I think the chances of them successfully and accurately contextualizing a 2,000-year-old meme dance is approximately zero. "Ancient Bacchanalian rites"—sure; why not.
- brookst 3y agoPrevious news about electric blue spiders: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37349839 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37349839
- johnyzee 3y ago> The secret behind the vivid blue coloration of our tarantula lies not in the presence of blue pigments, but rather in the unique structure of their hair, which incorporates nanostructures that manipulate light to create this striking blue appearance Cool!
- bradrn 3y agoIt’s actually surprisingly common. For instance, butterflies and peacocks also use this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration (In fact, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that only a handful of blue pigments exist in nature; the vast majority of blue animals and plants use structural colouration instead. Can’t recall where I saw it, though.)
- perihelions 3y agoIf I'm not mistaken, thin-film anodization one more example of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing - "Anodic films can also be used for several cosmetic effects, either with thick porous coatings that can absorb dyes or with thin transparent coatings that add reflected light wave interference effects. [...] The colour [sic] formed is dependent on the thickness of the oxide (which is determined by the anodizing voltage); it is caused by the interference of light reflecting off the oxide surface with light travelling through it and reflecting off the underlying metal surface." There's one more example in metallurgy I don't remember the name of: where you can get metals to spontaneously form color gradients by heating them in a specific way. Like, there's a thermal gradient, and that somehow translates to an oxidation-thickness gradient, which makes a rainbow. (?)
- DontchaKnowit 3y agoThere is work currently being done to turn this idea into a usable paint : https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7207 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7207
- ChatGTP 3y agoSomething can be both common and amazing ? I find the blue sky one of these common yet amazingly beautiful phenomena.
- bobse 3y agoHacker News?
- mlhpdx 3y ago“Tron Spider”
- LandR 3y agoWhy not ? It's a really cool spider! And I say this as someone that is pretty terrified of all spiders.
- somecommit 3y agoYeah, it looks cool but still, it's gonna be a no from me, dawg
- rnd0 3y agoYes - color hack.
- orionex_sigma 3y agoAh yes, I guessed it'd be a Chilobrachys. As a matter of fact, the first tarantula I ever encountered, in the wild, was also a chilobrachys species.
- A_D_E_P_T 3y ago> Blue is one of the rarest colors to appear in nature, which makes blue coloration in animals particularly fascinating. Now hold on just a minute. The sky. The ocean. Glaciers. Even human eyes. Blue is so common "in nature" that the Earth, viewed from Mars, looks like a blue glass marble. https://www.universetoday.com/14446/photos-of-earth-from-mars/ https://www.universetoday.com/14446/photos-of-earth-from-mar... Blue coloration in plants and animals is admittedly uncommon, but it's far from unusual. Animals tend to cluster around earth-toned colorways, and bright reds and greens are just as uncommon as blue.
- constantly 3y agoDon’t you think given the context of the article, they were clearly talking about blue coloration in animals, or plants and animals?
- pvaldes 3y ago> The sky. The ocean. Glaciers. Human eyes All structural. Blue eyes are depigmented, so the iris is basically "transparent" if I remember correctly. Thus they change with the light. The effect is more striking in green eyes that can turn grey.
- mcpackieh 3y agoIt should say that blue pigment is rare, not blue color. The premise of structural colors being somehow less real than pigment colors is a bit weird, but for some reason common.
- FredPret 3y agoI really enjoy knowing that all these critters exist somewhere, and also that I have a nice big ocean in between me and them
- moffkalast 3y agoHenceforth it shall be known as the Thairantula. I'll show myself out.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]