Ridiculous Scientific Names #3 - The Bernie Sanders Spider

Welcome to another post of my Ridiculous Scientific Names series, where I introduce you to some of the weirdest and wackiest scientific names given to animals, along with the origins of those names. Today's ridiculously named animal is...

Spintharus berniesandersi 

Female Spintharus berniesandersi, lateral view  (credit: Agnarsson Lab)

So today's title is a bit misleading. You were probably thinking that it's gonna be about a spider named after Bernie Sanders, which is only partially true. Well, you are in for a treat, especially if you are a democrat! This post is about 15 (!) newly discovered smiley-faced spider species that were announced a few days ago, some of which were named after various celebrities including: 

1. Barack Obama
2. Michelle Obama
3. Leonardo DiCaprio
4. David Bowie
5. David Attenborough 
6. Bernie Sanders

The newly described species were formerly believed to belong to one widespread species of smiley spider (Spintharus flavidus)  occuring from the northeastern United States to Brazil . However, a research team from the Caribbean Biogeography Project ("CarBio"), led by Ingi Agnarsson and Greta Binford at Lewis & Clark College, revealed that this "single" species is actually comprised by at least 15 species, and it's possible there are more to be found.

“Until now, the beautiful yellow smiley-faced spiders in the genus Spintharus— named for a smiley face pattern on their abdomens — has been thought to have one widespread species from northern North America down to northern Brazil. However, when we examined spiders from Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, Florida, South Carolina, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia, we discovered that one widespread species was actually many endemic species.”  commented Agnarsson. [3]

Smiley Face Spider (credit)

But why did the researchers decide to name some of the spiders this way? Here's what Agnarsson had to say:

"In naming these spiders, the students and I wanted to honor people who stood up for both human rights and warned about climate change -- leaders and artists who promoted sensible approaches for a better world."  [3]

Since this is on the #science tag I will hold myself from making any political comments ^_^.  So, with the above approach in mind here are some of the scientific names they came up with:

1. Spintharus barackobamai
2. Spintharus michelleobamaae
3. Spintharus davidattenboroughi
4. Spintharus leonardodicaprioi
5. Spintharus davidbowiei 

Oh yeah, I forgot Spintharus berniesandersi. Well, let me tell you... These guys seem to have a huge fixation on Bernie Sanders. I mean... Nevermind... Here's what one of the researcher had to say:

"We all named the Bernie Sanders spider. We all have tremendous respect for Bernie. He presents a feeling of hope. Our time on this earth is limited. But I think that ideas are not that way. It is my hope that through naming that spider after Bernie we can remember the ideas that he has at this pivotal point in the life of our nation." said Lily Sargeant, one of the students who worked on the project. [3]

But wait, THERE'S MORE: 

"I'm over my crush, [Leonardo Dicaprio] but now that he's involved in environmental issues, I love him even more. So I named a spider after him hoping that if he read our study, he might go out to dinner with me and talk about climate change." said student Chloe Van Patten  [3]

Yes, you are definitely SO MUCH over him....

As for the rest of the species that didn't get a celebrity name, they were named after friends and family members of the researchers.

Spintharus davidbowiei, lateral view (credit: Agnarsson Lab)

The importance of the discovery

As mentioned before, it was previously believed that all these 15 newly discovered species were actually one. But now  DNA analysis has shown  that these are totally distinct species, incapable of breeding with one another. This changes everything regarding their conservation status. This means that a species that yesterday was thought to be widespread might actually be under serious pressure:

"Thoughts about conservation change dramatically when you go from having a common, widespread species to an endemic on, say, Jamaica that has very specific conservation needs, All the sudden we have fifteen-fold increase in diversity in this particular group -- just because we did a detailed study. That tells us something about biodiversity in general. The more we look, the more we discover." [3]

The research team hopes that their new taxonomy will help protect and preserve all the newly discovered Spintharus species. The complete study appears in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. [2]

(credit: Glynnis Fawkes)

More Ridiculous Scientific Names

• Tritonia khaleesi, Queen of the Nudibranches and the Sea Slugs
• A beetle called Hitler

References & Further Reading

1. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintharus_berniesandersi
2. Academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx056/4222834/A-radiation-of-the-ornate-Caribbean-smiley-faced?redirectedFrom=fulltext
3. Sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170926105513.htm
4. Theridiidae.com
5. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintharus

My dear readers, thank you for reading today's article. Hopefully, you found it interesting enough to follow me, @trumpman. You may also want to check my strange animal series where you get to discover some of the world's weirdest animals!  Here are the last 3 weirdos of the series: 

1. You Won't Believe What This Tiny Baby Fish Grows Out To Be
2. 8 Strange Animal Stuff I Learned The Past Few Days
3. New Cave Dwelling Animal Discovered With The Help Of Smelly Cheese

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