Fifteen New Species of ‘Smiley-Faced’ Spiders Discovered

A team of spider experts and students from the University of Vermont has discovered and described 15 new species of the spider genus Spintharus from the Caribbean region and other southern spots — and named them after, among others, Bernie Sanders, Barack and Michelle Obama, David Attenborough, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The smiley-faced spider Spintharus berniesandersi is named after U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. Image credit: Glynnis Fawkes.

“In naming these spiders (Spintharus davidattenboroughi, S. barackobamai, S. michelleobamaae, and S. berniesandersi as well as S. davidbowiei and S. leonardodicaprioi), 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,” explained University of Vermont Professor Ingi Agnarsson.

“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.”

Professor Agnarsson and colleagues were able to identify and formally describe 15 new species of Spintharus.

Spintharus berniesandersi, female in lateral view. Image credit: Agnarsson Lab.

“The Caribbean region has long been known to scientists as a major global hotspot for biological diversity,” they explained.

“The leading spider expert on the Spintharus genus in earlier decades, Herbert W. Levi (1921-2014), had concluded that differences he observed in these spiders across a wide swath of geography represented variation within one species.”

“But newer molecular techniques deployed by our team show otherwise.”

“These are cryptic species,” Professor Agnarsson said.

“And if we keep looking, we’re sure there are more.”

“As Dr. Levi’s work clearly showed, they’re hard to tell apart by looking at them.”

“But the DNA data are clear: these spiders have not been interbreeding — exchanging genes — for millions of years.”

The study appears today in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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Ingi Agnarsson et al. ‘Revision of the genus Spintharus.’ Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, published online September 26, 2017; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx056