There are now 50,000 known different species of spiders, the World Spider Catalog (WSC) said Wednesday. The 50,000th spider registered is the Guriurius Minuano, a jumping spider who lives in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
The WSC is based at the Natural History Museum of Bern in Switzerland, and the spider catalogue is freely available on the museum’s website.
In 1757, the first scientific description of a spider was made; 265 years later, the number reached 50,000. The discovery rate of spiders is increasing. In less than 100 years, scientists think they’ll discover 50,000 new spider species.
“Spiders are the most important predators in Earth’s terrestrial habitats, and their ecological significance should not be underestimated,” WSC said.
“Consuming some 400 to 800 million tonnes of insects every year, they are the most important regulators of insect populations,” it added.
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