Khon Kaen University, Kasetsart University and YouTuber JoCho announced the discovery of the world’s new tarantula species in Thailand.
Songtham Sippawat, better known as YouTuber JoCho, found the new species of tarantulas while trekking in a bamboo forest on a mountain over 1,000 meters above the mean sea level in Tak province.
Then teams of researchers from the Faculty of Agriculture at Khon Kaen University and the Faculty of Forestry at Kasetsart University visited the site of the discovery to find such large spiders and conduct a relevant research which led to a publication of the new species in ZooKeys, an international research journal, on Jan 4.
The publication interested international journalists. The new species was named Taksinus in honor of King Taksin The Great and Tak province.
The newly discovered tarantula is the world’s first kind of tarantulas found to live with a specific kind of plants. They live only in hollow bamboo stems where they weave webs to protect themselves. They prey on small animals and insects at night.
It was the first discovery of a new tarantula species in Asia in 104 years and it is the rarest species of tarantulas in Thailand. (TNA)
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