World's oldest spider discovered in Australian outback

"World's oldest spider discovered in Australian outback" is misleading. Scientists have been following the spider since birth and she recently died.

>the research is the life’s work of Barbara York Main, now 88, who first set eyes on Number 16 shortly after its birth. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/04/27/farewell-no-1...

>The female Giaus Villosus, or trapdoor spider — Number 16, as she was known to researchers — met her maker in October, after being attacked by a parasitic wasp in Western Australia’s Central Wheatbelt

...

>This is how she did it – in 1974, she mapped out the burrows of several dozen spiders living in a segment of bushland reserve near her family farm.

>“I wanted to know how long the spiders lived, and whether there was any difference between male and female maturation.” She’s observed that the male leaves his burrow at maturity, around seven to nine years old, to wander in search of a mate, after which he dies. The female stays put, raising hatchlings inside the protection of her burrow, which she temporarily seals up with a mud plug. She lives on, and on…

>“I’ve got one spider from the original cohort that’s still alive,” she adds. I do a quick calculation – if she first found it in 1974, that would mean the spider is forty or so years old? “Yes.” http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/ba...

The farm is near https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammin,_Western_Australia by the way

More on Ms Main https://phys.org/news/2015-02-lifelong-spiderwoman.html

Reminds me of this friendly eel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IQ2I-P8Ucw

I was wondering how they could tell the age of the spider so accurately. It seems this spider has actually been tracked for decades.

This story made me think that it's funny how much time we spend trying to develop AI and wondering whether there is intelligent life on other planets, inventing fantastical life forms in fantasy novels like walking trees when there is sentient, intelligent life all around us that we barely notice!

When I see an animal I try to think, what is it's life history, where does it sleep at night, etc. I try to think of them as individuals, recognize them.

As humans we are shockingly bad observers of the living beings around us. Apparently some fish have homes and are surprisingly intelligent, now I know some spiders live 43 years, what kind of spidery wisdom did it develop during it's long life? Is there any way to know?

Well that explains wide variety of friendly spiders that exist in Australia to this very day. :)

Here is an interesting article from 2013 about the natural history of these spiders with regards to water from Barbara York Main, who started the referenced study: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1108&contex.... It suggests that long female life spans and large size are adaptations to the arid environment.

Looks very similar to a Mouse Spider - we see them every now and then on our driveway or under our house here in Northern Australia - usually during mating season, or when we have been doing some big digging in our garden beds, thus inadvertently disturbing their underground lair.

They are usually easy enough to see and avoid, as they DO have a painful, venomous bite. Not as friendly as the common Huntsman or Golden Orbs that we see VERY often in our house/yard.

The observations found that females stay in their burrows and have babies. This one was I guess the 16th one found and followed through the study.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-28/worlds-oldest-spider-d...

TL;DR; "43-year-old Giaus Villosus trapdoor matriarch"

Previous _known_ record was 28.

This spider appears to have 10 legs.