[HN Gopher] New tarantula species discovered in Thailand
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New tarantula species discovered in Thailand
Author : wglb
Score : 164 points
Date : 2023-09-22 00:22 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (phys.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
| orionex_sigma wrote:
| Ah yes, I guessed it'd be a Chilobrachys.
|
| As a matter of fact, the first tarantula I ever encountered, in
| the wild, was also a chilobrachys species.
| A_D_E_P_T wrote:
| > Blue is one of the rarest colors to appear in nature, which
| makes blue coloration in animals particularly fascinating.
|
| Now hold on just a minute. The sky. The ocean. Glaciers. Even
| human eyes. Blue is so common "in nature" that the Earth, viewed
| from Mars, looks like a blue glass marble.
| https://www.universetoday.com/14446/photos-of-earth-from-mar...
|
| Blue coloration in plants and animals is admittedly uncommon, but
| it's far from unusual. Animals tend to cluster around earth-toned
| colorways, and bright reds and greens are just as uncommon as
| blue.
| pvaldes wrote:
| > The sky. The ocean. Glaciers. Human eyes
|
| All structural. Blue eyes are depigmented, so the iris is
| basically "transparent" if I remember correctly. Thus they
| change with the light. The effect is more striking in green
| eyes that can turn grey.
| mcpackieh wrote:
| It should say that blue pigment is rare, not blue color. The
| premise of structural colors being somehow less real than
| pigment colors is a bit weird, but for some reason common.
| constantly wrote:
| Don't you think given the context of the article, they were
| clearly talking about blue coloration in animals, or plants and
| animals?
| bobse wrote:
| Hacker News?
| LandR wrote:
| Why not ?
|
| It's a really cool spider! And I say this as someone that is
| pretty terrified of all spiders.
| somecommit wrote:
| Yeah, it looks cool but still, it's gonna be a no from me,
| dawg
| mlhpdx wrote:
| "Tron Spider"
| imglorp wrote:
| See also the better known Cobalt Blue and Green Bottle Blue
| tarantulas, very pretty but not the best beginner pets. They
| shouldn't be handled and need careful climate.
|
| Other tarantulas are very easy, like Rosehair or Pink Toes. They
| need little attention, make no noise, are hardy desert climate
| dwellers, and can be handled. I had a female Rosehair live for 20
| years as a beginner.
| adr1an wrote:
| Can't find any good video of tarantulas' song on YouTube. I
| want to see that!
| dclowd9901 wrote:
| You surprised me. I never expected tarantulas to be noisy in
| the first place.
| perihelions wrote:
| Then you've never met a well-socialized tarantula; they sing
| and dance all the time. Usually in 6/8.
|
| (This etymology is hilariously absurd:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantella )
| tpmx wrote:
| _In 186 BC the tarantella went underground, reappearing
| under the guise of emergency therapy for bite victims._
|
| What the...
| marcosdumay wrote:
| When you prohibit something popular, people will make up
| an excuse for doing it while pretending not to. The
| excuse will be as stupid and obviously nonsensical as
| they can get away with.
|
| Turns out this is a millenary tradition.
| perihelions wrote:
| I'm sure the historians are trying their best, but I
| think the chances of them successfully and accurately
| contextualizing a 2,000-year-old meme dance is
| approximately zero.
|
| "Ancient Bacchanalian rites"--sure; why not.
| jancsika wrote:
| Not sure what the problem is. "Ancient" is a no-brainer,
| and both "Bacchanalian" and "rites" seem perfectly doable
| for a trained historian.
| pvaldes wrote:
| very bad singers, but decent tap dancers.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GalkM3KM4s
|
| As this can last for hours at night in the owner's room, is a
| factor to consider. Here is a spider singing:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6b3-wELoOU
| jjtheblunt wrote:
| what does "shouldn't" mean with respect to handling, and
| similarly "can"?
|
| Like they bite, or they're super fragile?
| pvaldes wrote:
| They bite, they are super fragile, and some have urticating
| hairs that release freely if feel threatened and you don't
| want in your skin or floating around your room.
| chongli wrote:
| Their (cobalt blue's) bite is extremely painful! Causes
| severe muscle cramps and inflammation. They also happen to be
| very aggressive if you try to handle them, so you're likely
| to get bitten.
| imglorp wrote:
| Both. Some are fast and skittish, and if they launch, even a
| short fall would be fatal. Description of the bite is similar
| to a wasp sting; only dangerous if anaphylaxis.
| flangola7 wrote:
| Their bite is much worse than a wasp sting. Unlikely to
| cause death or serious injury in an adult with no
| allergies, but the pain can be excruciating and last for
| many hours, and lesser symptoms for days. We usually do not
| prescribe muscle relaxers or opiates for a wasp sting.
| FredPret wrote:
| I really enjoy knowing that all these critters exist somewhere,
| and also that I have a nice big ocean in between me and them
| moffkalast wrote:
| Henceforth it shall be known as the Thairantula.
|
| I'll show myself out.
| [deleted]
| realo wrote:
| "This species was previously found on the commercial tarantula
| market..."
|
| Oupsie.
| tpmx wrote:
| Most of the google search results for _Chilobrachys sp.
| Electric Blue Tarantula_ are online stores. Some of them claim
| to have live specimens in stock.
|
| The going price in the UK appears to be about 15-20 GBP.
| [deleted]
| SamoyedFurFluff wrote:
| I don't think this is unusual. Hobby collectors can often have
| collective knowledge that rivals researchers. This is
| especially true for less popular/well funded species like
| insects, fish, etc .
| zokier wrote:
| In case of tarantulas, there is active black/grey market
| trading and smuggling them, so that probably explains why
| white-hat scientists have hard time following.
|
| https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/science/spiders-
| tarantula...
| Avlin67 wrote:
| Spiderpunk 2077
| [deleted]
| wglb wrote:
| And it is nearly Spider Worship Season here.
| brookst wrote:
| Previous news about electric blue spiders:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37349839
| assbuttbuttass wrote:
| It sounds like this species has been previously known to
| hobbyists under the name "Chilobrachys electric blue"
|
| I remember seeing this species in YouTube videos from at least a
| few years ago[0]. It's incredible to me how there's still so much
| we don't know about our world!
|
| [0] https://youtu.be/vDU2sR62v5E?si=eYf7g-ucm3sYSwEx
| orionex_sigma wrote:
| No, that's a separate species?
|
| Edit: apparently not. It's surprising as Well as enraging
| goku12 wrote:
| Offtopic - The man in the video is very agile on his feet. The
| trek looks dangerous and a single misstep can end up in a
| disaster. Respects for people who take such risks to study the
| forest ecosystem.
| siva7 wrote:
| I've done similiar paths back in Thailand. It's not so
| uncommon.
| johnyzee wrote:
| > The secret behind the vivid blue coloration of our tarantula
| lies not in the presence of blue pigments, but rather in the
| unique structure of their hair, which incorporates nanostructures
| that manipulate light to create this striking blue appearance
|
| Cool!
| gonzo41 wrote:
| Structural color is really amazing. Same thing on the wings of
| Christmas beetles that gives them a blue green oil slick look.
|
| I'm waiting for a paint company to come out with this for house
| painting. 1 coat for life.
| [deleted]
| Schattenbaer wrote:
| Reminds me of when Lexus also used nanostructures to create
| their "structural blue"
|
| https://newsroom.lexus.eu/natures-brillance-captured---new-l...
| jjtheblunt wrote:
| that's what Iridigm displays use (acquired by Qualcomm in
| 2004):
|
| https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2004/09/qualcomm-acqu...
| fractallyte wrote:
| And now apparently owned by... Apple!
|
| https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/15/apple-has-
| taken-o...
| permo-w wrote:
| what is the difference between that and what pigment does?
| saltcured wrote:
| If you ground a structural color material down into a dust,
| it would no longer produce the same color effects anymore. By
| contrast, pigments and dyes have their absorption at the
| molecular level and would only lose their effect if you
| modified their chemical bonds.
|
| With structural color, the substances themselves do not have
| this spectral absorption characteristic. Instead, very
| specific configurations are needed to produce different
| effects. Imagine microscopic arrays of prisms and mirrors.
|
| Also, structural colorization is often very angle-dependent.
| The iridescence of flowers, feathers, etc. comes from this
| characteristic. At different angles of incidence of light
| reflecting to an observer, different colors become visible.
| Pigments do not do this.
|
| Also, I think there may be differences in usage of these
| terms between physicists, chemists, and biologists. While
| writing this, I also realize I am not sure if the terms
| become ambiguous for relativelt inert, microscopic crystals.
| From a physics standpoint, I think the crystals may exhibit
| structural color and pigment effects. From a practical
| standpoint, they might behave a little more like a pigment in
| that you could have what seems a fine dust and mix it into
| paint. But, if you dissolved it to separate the crystals back
| into free molecules, it would then only exhibit the pigment
| effects.
| johnyzee wrote:
| Apparently, structural color is also a lot more vivid (in
| the paint example, it reflects back almost 100% of the
| light, vs. 50% for pigment).
| aragonite wrote:
| If it reflects back 100% of the incident light, it
| wouldn't have a _blue_ appearance, would it?
| [deleted]
| johnyzee wrote:
| I believe it changes the wavelength of the reflected
| light, producing the observed color.
| mcpackieh wrote:
| From what I understand, with structural colors the
| structure is causing certain wavelengths to
| preferentially reflect or transmit, or behaves as a
| diffraction grating to split the white light. What you're
| describing sounds like fluorescence.
| bradrn wrote:
| It's actually surprisingly common. For instance, butterflies
| and peacocks also use this:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration
|
| (In fact, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that only a handful
| of blue pigments exist in nature; the vast majority of blue
| animals and plants use structural colouration instead. Can't
| recall where I saw it, though.)
| perihelions wrote:
| If I'm not mistaken, thin-film anodization one more example
| of this:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing
|
| - _" Anodic films can also be used for several cosmetic
| effects, either with thick porous coatings that can absorb
| dyes or with thin transparent coatings that add reflected
| light wave interference effects. [...] The colour [sic]
| formed is dependent on the thickness of the oxide (which is
| determined by the anodizing voltage); it is caused by the
| interference of light reflecting off the oxide surface with
| light travelling through it and reflecting off the underlying
| metal surface."_
|
| There's one more example in metallurgy I don't remember the
| name of: where you can get metals to spontaneously form color
| gradients by heating them in a specific way. Like, there's a
| thermal gradient, and that somehow translates to an
| oxidation-thickness gradient, which makes a rainbow. (?)
| DontchaKnowit wrote:
| There is work currently being done to turn this idea into a
| usable paint :
| https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7207
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