A new species of spider

Date:
September 16, 2020
Source:
Universita"t Bayreuth
Summary:
During a research stay in the highlands of Colombia conducted as
part of her doctorate, a PhD student has discovered and zoologically
described a new species of spider.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== During a research stay in the highlands of Colombia conducted as part
of her doctorate, Charlotte Hopfe, PhD student under the supervision of
Prof. Dr.

Thomas Scheibel at the Biomaterials research group at the University
of Bayreuth, has discovered and zoologically described a new species
of spider.

The previously unknown arachnids are native to the central cordillera,
not far from the Pacific coast, at an altitude of over 3,500 meters
above sea-level. In the magazine PLOS ONE, the scientist from Bayreuth
presents the spider she has called Ocrepeira klamt.


==========================================================================
"I chose the zoological name Ocrepeira klamt in honour of Ulrike Klamt, my German teacher at high school. The enthusiasm with which she pursues her profession and the interest she shows in her students and in literature
are an inspiration to me," says Charlotte Hopfe.

The cordillera in Colombia is famous for its unusually large variety
of species. The habitats of these species are distributed at altitudes
with very different climatic conditions, vegetation, and ecosystems. The Bayreuth researcher has collected and zoologically determined specimens
of more than 100 species of spider in these habitats. In doing so,
she was mainly in a region that has only been accessible to researchers
since the end of civil war in Colombia in 2016. She discovered the new
spider, which differs from related species in the striking structure
of its reproductive organs, at altitudes of over 3,500 meters above
sea-level. In the identification of this and many other spider specimens,
Hopfe received valuable support from researchers at Universidad del Valle
in Cali, Colombia, with which the University of Bayreuth has a research cooperation. Colombia has been identified as a priority country in the internationalization strategy of the University of Bayreuth, which is
why it maintains close connections with several Colombian universities.

The study of spiders from regions of such various huge climatic and
ecological variety may also offer a chance to find answers to two as
yet unexplored questions. It is not yet known whether temperatures, precipitation, or other climatic factors influence the evolution of
spiders, or the properties of their silk. For example, is the proportion
of species with extremely elastic silk in the lowland rainforest
higher than in the semi-desert? And it is also still unclear whether
the properties of the silk produced by a species of spider are modified
by climatic factors. Would a spider living in the high mountains, such
as Ocrepeira klamt, produce the same silk if it were native to a much
lower region of the cordillera? The answer to these questions could
provide important clues as to the conditions under which unusual spider
silks develop.

Along similar lines, it would also be interesting to explore whether there
are spider silk proteins which, due to their properties, are even more
suitable for certain applications in biomedicine and biotechnology than
silk proteins currently known. "The greater the variety of spider silks
whose structures and properties we know, the greater the potential to
optimize existing biomaterials and to develop new types of biomaterials
on the basis of silk proteins," Hopfe explains.

Charlotte Hopfe's research was funded by the German Academic Exchange
Service and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Universita"t_Bayreuth. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Charlotte Hopfe, Bryan Ospina-Jara, Thomas Scheibel, Jimmy
Cabra-Garci'a.

Ocrepeira klamt sp. n. (Araneae: Araneidae), a novel spider
species from an Andean pa'ramo in Colombia. PLOS ONE, 2020; 15
(8): e0237499 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237499 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916131040.htm

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