NEWLY discovered tarantulas have shocked scientists due to their “exceptionally large” manhood.
The spiders’ sexual organs measure in at record length to fend off “highly aggressive” mates that try to eat them after doing the deed, experts believe.
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Four new species of tarantula have been identified and one is packing record-long genitalia.
Scientists noticed they had much larger palps, which is the appendages used by male spiders to transfer sperm during mating.
The biggest of the bunch is almost as big as its legs.
These newly found tarantulas, named Satyrex ferox, have a legspan of about 5.5 inches while its palp can reach a length 2 inches.
And yet researchers don’t believe their sexual organs have grown to impress mates.
Instead, they suspect it’s to protect them from being eaten post sex.
“The males of these spiders have the longest palps among all known tarantulas,” explained Dr Alireza Zamani of the University of Turku, who led the study into them.
“We have tentatively suggested that the long palps might allow the male to keep a safer distance during mating and help him avoid being attacked and devoured by the highly aggressive female.”
Scientists aptly named the species Satyrex ferox, which is a combination of “Satyr” a part-man, part-beast figure from Greek mythology with exceptionally large genitalia.
The “Rex” part is Latin for king, while “ferox” means fierce.
“This species is highly defensive,” Dr Zamani added.
“At the slightest disturbance, it raises its front legs in a threat posture and produces a loud hissing sound by rubbing specialised hairs on the basal segments of the front legs against each other.”
The others have been called Satyrex arabicus, Satyrex somalicus and Satyrex speciosus.
All types live underground in burrows at the base of shrubs or between rocks.
The study was published in the journal ZooKeys, is called ‘Size matters: a new genus of tarantula with the longest male palps’.
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