The world is so big that we can see it again in this magical place: nature can be so magical! Have you ever seen a spider that catches birds and likes to catch snakes to eat? Yunnan has it! According to the latest news, Lincang, Yunnan Province, ushered in a great news, after the "bird catching spider" sample captured in May was determined to be a new species after in-depth research, named the long stick thorn spider. And this research result has been recognized worldwide and has been published in the French journal of insect taxonomy "Faunitaxys".
This is really an exciting news, it is gratifying that in fact, it is not only this one bird-catching spider, it is reported that the experts in this paper a total of 4 kinds of new bird-catching spiders, one of which is hubei tamarind spider, and the other three are yunnan, namely Yuxi's tassel, Lincang's stick thorn and Gaoligong mountain's stick. In general, this time Yunnan has let the world see the big world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="36" what are the characteristics of the "bird-catching spider" that is identified as a new species >? </h1>
There are a total of 4 species of "bird-catching spiders" that have been identified as new species, named Qian stick spider, slippery hair spider, Anubis stick thorn, and long stick thorn spider.
The Qian stick thorn spider, the largest stick thorn spider in China, has a foot span of up to 13 cm
The slippery tassel (Yuxi tassel), the largest spider in central Yunnan, the closest bird-catching spider to Kunming, is also the first large bird-catching spider found in central Yunnan
Anubis stick thorn, produced in the Gaoligong Mountains of Western Yunnan, is extremely fierce, worthy of the ancient Egyptian mythology of the god of death Anubis
The long stick thorn spider was collected by the team of Dali University in Lincang, and it was reported on the news before. According to the male spider insert is relatively long, so it is named: long stick thorn spider.
It is worth mentioning that the new species found above belong to the large category of bird-catching spiders, and there are many species of bird-catching spiders, but basically the body size is much larger than that of ordinary spiders. For example, the world's largest and heaviest spider, the Amazon Giant Bird Eater Spider, has a foot span of more than 30 centimeters, which is one of the bird-catching spiders. The bird-catching spider was first discovered by the German female scholar Maria, who was hunting a small bird at that time, so it was named the bird-catching spider.
Amazon giant bird-eating spider
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="35" > How poisonous are bird-catching spiders that catch birds and snakes? Why is Venom also known as "life-saving gold"</h1>
Legend has it that bird-catching spiders catch birds and catch snakes to eat when they survive in the wild, which is indeed credible, after all, the origin of its name is because it is catching birds to eat. The venom of bird-catching spiders is very poisonous, so it is also called "spider venom king". However, the size of the helpless body is indeed not too large, and the secretion of venom is limited, which is naturally not a threat to large animals. But for some insects and small vertebrates, they will only be easily killed, not as good as small snakes and birds, when the venom is injected into them, it will soon melt them.
It is said that bird-catching spiders are very poisonous, why is its venom called "life-saving gold"? In fact, it is inseparable from its venom for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and other medicinal properties. Due to the high demand, but the number in the wild is not easy to catch, and the number is very small, most of them are artificially farmed to meet the market. It is worth noting that different species of bird catchers have different virulences, and although most of them are not fatal, they may cause severe pain for several days and spasms of muscle twitching, so they should not be carelessly touched, thus accidentally triggering their attack.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > bird-catching spiders are widely used and may change human production and life in the future</h1>
Bird-catching spiders belong to a kind of spider, there are about 40,000 kinds of spiders in the world, but although the species are different, the same characteristic is that they all spit silk. According to relevant research, experts at the Russian Academy of Sciences said that spider silk may still be of great use, and the use of spider silk can be used to make high-strength materials in the future. Experiments have shown that spider silk is 9 times harder than steel of the same thickness, and the elasticity is 2 times higher than other synthetic materials.
Foreign uncles have done an experiment to explore the toughness of spider silk. It was twisted into a rope with 25,000 spider silks, and then a steel wire of equal quality. The experiment is to hang a bucket marked with spider silk and steel wire, respectively, and the final weight of the steel wire is only 5 liters, while the spider silk replaced later can withstand the weight of 10 liters before reaching the limit.
And its hardness is so strong that it can extend to 140% of itself and still does not break, is not limited by "thermal expansion and contraction", and can maintain this property at minus 40 degrees. On the whole, there is a great market prospect for the future use of bulletproof vests, protective materials, plastic surgery tools and high-strength fishing nets.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > summary</h1>
It is worth mentioning that the bird-catching spider belongs to a kind of spider, and for us, in fact, whether it is for the protection of biodiversity or for medicinal value, future production and life, sustainable development, etc., we should strengthen protection. After all, the number is so small, and it is not so easy to take root in Yunnan. Of course, we also look forward to more rare wild animals and plants in the future!