Bogota: This may seem like a strange way to honour someone, but as per reports, the late Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez has found a namesake in a spider!
A new species of Tarantula discovered near the hometown where Marquez was born, has been named after him in an unusual posthumous honor.
"Kankuamos marquezi", the latest in the family of Arachnids, has been named after Marquez as well as Kankuamos, after the indigenous Kankuamo group who live in the area of Caribbean Colombia.
The 'twerking' tarantula, as it is being called, is empowered by an unusual defense mechanism, which includes releasing stinging hairs that dig into predators' eyes and people's skin.
It looks as scary as it sounds! The spider's body is three centimeters long with legs the same length giving an overall size of nine centimeters (3.5 inches).
A group of Uruguayan and Colombian scientists, led by Carlos Perefan from the University of the Republic of Uruguay and the study's lead author, found the species in the upper area of a mountain, 2,200 meters high, in a rainy, cold environment.
The video below, will introduce you to the newly identified Tarantula. Have a look!
(Video courtesy: SciNews)
(With Agency inputs)
