Scientists Mourn as Oldest Known Living Spider Dies at Age 43
Scientists Mourn as Oldest Known Living Spider Dies at Age 43
If you were to research the age limit of trapdoor spiders, you would most likely find the general consensus amongst the scientific community to be around 20 years maximum. However, there is one trapdoor spider in Australia that blew all that knowledge to pieces when she lived far past the age of 20 and all the way into her 40s. Sadly, however, this record-breaking spider has finally passed away and is on her way to meet her maker. But, she made it all the way to the ripe old age of 43, and could have possibly lived longer had she not been stung by a wasp. Still, she broke the record for the longest observed living spider, so that is certainly an achievement to be proud of, especially coming from such a tiny creature.
The female trapdoor spider, named Number 16, was part of a long-term population study of trapdoor spiders that was started in 1974 by Barbara York Main, an Australian arachnologist. York Main tagged number 16’s burrow during her initial survey in 1974. Number 16’s burrow was tagged as the burrow of a young spiderling and the 16th burrow they had come across, hence the spider’s imaginative name. York Main managed to tag 150 burrows by 2016, but the other 15 spiders first discovered with Number 16 have all since passed, along with many other spiders tagged during the intervening years. This incredible study helped scientists discover that the long life span of trapdoor spiders has a lot to do with the traits of their life-history. A big part of this is their habitat, living in the largely untouched native bushland of Australia, their sedentary lifestyle, as well as their low metabolism.
Number 16, with her much longer than average lifespan, helped researchers learn more and investigate further this spider’s overall behavior and the dynamics of their population. Her long lifespan may actually change how these scientists even go about researching the creatures. Researchers discovered Number 16’s burrow with a puncture in it from a parasitic wasp on October 30, 2016. With the burrow having fallen into a state of disrepair, the researchers realized that Number 16 was either dead or had been infected by a spider wasp and turned into what amounts to a nurse zombie to take care of the wasps little egg until it hatches and eats poor Number 16. Thus, a sad end comes to a remarkable little spider.
How old do you think Number 16 could have lived if she hadn’t been killed by the parasitic wasp and simply died of old age?