Spiders are a reality of life in Australia. Everyone knows what it’s like to find a fuck off huge huntsman behind their TV cabinet. Everyone had that mate who used to deliberately piss off redbacks even when his mum told him to stop.
But here’s a new one for ya. Scientists in Queensland have discovered a spider that can surf along the surface of water, riding the vibrations like they were sick barrels. Surfs up.
Obviously you’d want a cool name for this eight-legged grommet. Obviously. But yeah: they went with Brian. That’s the name of this spider. It’s named after World Science Festival co-founder Professor Brian Greene. Its scientific name is dolomedes briangreenei which is surely something in and of itself. Look at Brian!
Check out the “Dolomedes Briangreenei”, the new water spider named after @bgreene here at the #WSFBrisbane! pic.twitter.com/Wettia0Ct7
— Ashleigh Whittaker (@ash_whittaker18) March 9, 2016
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was full of praise for the team that discovered Brian (Brian!). She said:
“It’s wonderful that this beautiful native spider, which relies on waves for its very survival, has found a namesake in a man who is one of the world’s leading experts in exploring and explaining the effects of waves in our universe.”
Cool. Nice. Science – I’m into it. But also it’s a big-ass spider that can surf along water, and there’s a part of my soul which fundamentally rejects that as a thing that should exist. The water is one place in Australia where we can escape them, and now not even that is enough.
Source: The Telegraph
Photo: Queensland Museum
