New Blue Tarantula Discovered in South American Forest

Scientists discovered a rare spider in Guyana, South America.

If you thought the radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker was amazing, you haven't seen this blue tarantula.

The researchers are from the Global Wildlife Conservation that went hunting through the forests for exciting new species and this is just 1 out of 30 new species they found in the Kaieteur National Park, which includes:

• 3 plants
• 5 dragonflies
• 6 fish
• 15 swimming beetles

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“Guyana is one of the world’s most important countries for biodiversity conservation with the second highest percentage of forest cover on Earth, high levels of biological diversity and species that are found nowhere else.”

— Global Wildlife Conservation spokesperson

In case you don't know, there are actually already 40 different kinds of blue spiders in the world with another blue tarantula found only in a very small region of India. It's categorized as "critically endangered" because of this limited habitat and since that location's pollution and is getting worse and worse. That one is bright blue with white stripes and called poecilotheria metallica. 

In a 2015 study of blue tarantulas leader, Mr. Bor-Kai Hsiung told the BBC: 'It evolved from multiple origins and different mechanisms produce the very same blue color. That's very strong evidence to suggest that this blue color has a very important visual signaling function. But if it's not for other tarantulas, then it must be to some other receivers out there.'

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Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5122119/BLUE-tarantula-one-30-new-species-discovered.html#ixzz50bH9iSZM

BIZARRE Storms: Raining FROGS, SPIDERS, and FISH!

By Liwei Fu, Epoch Times

Since ancient times mankind has recorded several strange sightings of animals—frogs, fish, or insects—that fall from the skies.

In the emotionally charged 1999 P. T. Anderson movie, Magnolia, the characters witness an unusual event—the sky rains frogs. Perhaps referring to the biblical passage in which God casts down a rain of frogs on the Egyptians for their refusal to free the Israelites, the shower of frogs proves a bizarre, yet effective, plot device in a film that explores themes of forgiveness and redemption. "And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs," Exodus 8:1-15.

Since ancient times mankind has recorded several strange sightings of animals—frogs, fish, or insects—that fall from the skies. While many might consider this biblical legend to be merely mythical meteorology, this mysterious phenomenon was actually documented earlier this year by Argentine photographer, Christian Oneto Gaona

During a visit to Argentina's Salta province on April 6, 2007, Christian and his friends were hiking up San Bernardo peak when they discovered that the ground around them was covered with spiders. As they looked up they saw hundreds of spiders falling from the sky. Suddenly remembering that he had a camera, Christian snapped several shots of the falling arachnids. Although such occurrences have been noted for centuries, Christian's pictures represent the first documented evidence of this phenomenon.

A few years ago, strange rains of live frogs, fish, and many other animals were periodically reported throughout the country, but up to now nobody had the opportunity to photograph them. Because the past events happened so fast, and the rains were so heavy, photo documentation proved difficult to obtain. The conditions Christian experienced were different in that the spider rain occurred on a cloudless day, and involved a comparatively lighter subject, where the spiders fell slow enough to be captured on film.

 

Strange Rains in History

The majority of animal rains throughout history involve frogs. The first case recorded by the scientific community was in 1873 when Scientific American reported that Kansas City was covered with frogs after a storm. In July 1901, witnesses in Minneapolis recounted a similar story. After the storm, they discovered that four streets were covered almost three inches deep in frogs, making it impossible to walk.

The most recent case was on July 26, 2005, when a newspaper in Belgrade reported that millions of frogs fell in Odzaci, a northeast village of Serbia. After a strong wind, the sky was covered in clouds—as before any storm—but what fell was not water.  Instead, a countless number of frogs not indigenous to that area fell across the entire village.

"I don't know where the cloud came from, it had a strange color and shape," said villager, Caja Jovanovic. "Just as I was looking at it, frogs started to fall. I thought that a plane carrying a cargo of frogs had exploded."

In May 1981, residents of Naphlion, Greece woke up to a shower of small green frogs. The local weather service explained that frogs had merely been lifted by strong winds. They must have been quite severe since that type of frog is only found in North Africa!

Rains of Fish

Aside from frogs, the most common animal rain involves fish—a frequent occurrence in both India and Australia. A study done by Australian zoologist Gilbert Whitley found that in 1972 it rained fish some 50 times.

The Honduran province of Yoro has a history of raining fish going back so far that it has become part of the culture of this region. Each year between May and July, witnesses see what starts out like a normal storm—black clouds, thunder, lightning, and hard rain— but when the rain stops, the ground is covered with live fish that the villagers cook and eat. Since 1998, the Yoro people have held an annual "Rain of the Fish" festival to mark this miraculous occurrence. On July 16, 2006, Honduran television gave a special report on this phenomenon since it now rains fish there up to two times per year.

In 1970, National Geographic sent specialists to Honduras to investigate this curious weather. They found that the falling fish were all the same size—less than 6 inches— and were all blind. Researchers identified the species, but could not find a record of it in the surrounding region. Finally, they proposed that these fish must have lived underground, and were blind due to never having been exposed to light. Even so, actual proof of this theory has yet to materialize.

Scientific Explanation

When science does acknowledge this occurrence, the explanation often centers on a storm or hurricane lifting creatures out of the water and through the air where they finally fall in remote areas. However, this does not explain how such a powerful storm could be discriminating enough to select only animals of the same species, and careful enough not to touch surrounding plant life. Tornadoes and hurricanes are known to scatter and destroy everything in its wake.  Evidence of their presence differs quite a bit from the vast majority of animal rains concentrated in relatively small areas.

Another problem with this theory is that the animals that fall are alive—suggesting that little time has passed between the moment the storm collected them and when they fell.  How does this happen when there are no known bodies of water nearby? There are even occasions, like with the Salta spiders, in which the animals appear on clear days, without wind or precipitation.

So why do these animal rains occur? There have been several theories, but nothing has yet been suitably explained or proven. It appears that Mother Nature still holds some mysteries in this modern age.

New Large 'Wandering' Spider Discovered with Red Fangs

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Scared of spiders? You're going to love (or hate) the discovery of a new LARGE SPIDER the size of a softball. Seemingly straight out of a horror story, a team of researchers exploring Mexican mountains... at night wandered into a cave to find dozens of these large hairy red-fanged spiders hanging from the ceiling!!!

Originally found in 2013 by Jim Berrian and a team of researchers from the San Diego Natural History Museum released a report about their find earlier this year.

Jim and the others brought back 8 of 24 these spiders to study and named them "califorctenus cacachilensis" or "Sierra Cacachilas wandering spider" and represents a new genus of arachnids.

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“When I saw these spiders for the first time, I was very impressed by their size,” Baja spider expert Maria Luisa Jimenez, a researcher at Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste.

The head and legs of the spider are dark brown with a yellow abdomen. The body is about an inch long while the legs are about four inches across. The arachnid belongs to the same family as the Brazilian wandering spider—one of the deadliest spiders in the world.

"I got bit while handling a live specimen of Califorctenus cacachilensis and I'm still alive," said Jim Berrian.

But this Sierra Cacachilas wandering spider is so different from other related species that the researchers put it in a different genus. Despite its large fangs and body, a bite from one won't kill you.

“The odds of discovering a new species are pretty high. But...generally, [most] new species discovered are itty-bitty things that people don’t pay attention to, so given the size of this spider, that was surprising.”

So, that's good news! You have a great chance of finding a new spider species... that may or may not be poisonous... and could be really big. 

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SOURCES: 
1.http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/huge-new-spider-species-discovered-mexican-cave-180962848/#zLx8JBGCAEoQQAUz.99