March 25, 2023: The pictures of the gigantic sized-spider have already gone viral. Read to know more and watch the video!
Found hiding beneath a silk trapdoor and the western soil of Brisbane, a rare and gigantic trapdoor spider was discovered by Australian researchers. The arthropod was found at the Queensland Museum of Australia, by the Project DIG team of the Queensland Museum.
Going by the scientific name Euoplos dignitas, the species goes by the common name trapdoor spider.
The body of this spider stretches almost 5 cm or 2 inches in length, excluding the legs.
These spiders are large, rare and gigantic in size, and thrive in open woodland habitats, after building burrows in the black soils with a cork-like trapdoor made of soil and vegetation of the Central Queensland region.
Dignitas means dignity or greatness in Latin, which led to the origin of the species name, according to the press release by Queensland Museum Network. The name is indicative of its gigantic size and nature of the spider.
Eidsvold and Monto in Central Queensland are only a few of the locations where the trapdoor spider species have been found. The spider faces major survival threats from habitat loss due to land clearing, and therefore, it has been listed under ‘endangered species’.