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back to article Spider from Mars Malaysia dubbed David Bowie

A newly-discovered spider has been dubbed Heteropoda davidbowie, in the hope that slapping the rock star's moniker on the beast will help raise awareness about the plight of endangered arachnid species worldwide. Peter Jäger, the man who identified the spider from Mars Malaysia, told the Observer that "naming spiders after …

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  1. Gavin McMenemy

    How does THAT parachute?

    They look like tarantulas...

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  2. LuMan
    Joke

    Picture?

    Where's the picture?? I wanted to print it out and scare the office girlies with it!

    Oh, wait - I can just use another picture of David Bowie...

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  3. Kanhef

    More etymology

    at http://www.curioustaxonomy.net/etym/people.html . There's another spider named after Frank Zappa.

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  4. Phil Edwards
    Happy

    Perhaps...

    ...public awareness of these creatures plight could be raised by setting up a web site.

    I know, I know, I'm getting it now...

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    David who

    How old are these guys?

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  6. Sooty

    hmm

    "help raise awareness about the plight of endangered arachnid species worldwide"

    Does that mean i shouldn't be beating them to death with a shoe/phonebook everytime they get into my house?

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  7. Dave 135
    Flame

    Nope...

    Spiders are the 8 legged bastard messengers from hell and should be wiped out without a second thought.

    Don't make me produce evidence of how many we eat in a year.

    Fire, because a can of WD40 and a lighter make for a great cleanser of spiders.

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  8. Frank Bitterlich
    Big Brother

    Wait until the RIAA gets wind of that...

    ... they'll sue every one of these spiders for breach of trademark and, once they see how similar the spider looks to the real David Bowie, for copyright infringement too...

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...can he play guitar?"

    No, and neither can David Bowie!

    And on another note-

    Some members of the "Heteropoda davidbowie" species have been known to breed with members of another arachnid species, the "Heteropoda mickjaggerus".

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  10. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    Well, failing the "save the planet" objective...

    ... that's one hell of an efficient way to draw media attention to one's otherwise obscure research team. Cynical, me? Never...

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  11. ElReg!comments!Pierre
    Flame

    @AC 16:46 GMT

    >Some members of the "Heteropoda davidbowie" species have been known to breed

    > with members of another arachnid species, the "Heteropoda mickjaggerus".

    And the we Olde Rock Worshipper Club People pull your limbs appart one by one, while delightfully drinking your tears...

    Seriously, what kind of analogy is that? Why not equate Led Zeppelin with the Beach Boys, while you're at it?

    Aggro!

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