logo
This Jurassic-era relic has survived 150 million years on Earth – now it's one big fire from extinction

This Jurassic-era relic has survived 150 million years on Earth – now it's one big fire from extinction

The Guardian7 days ago
For the last five weeks, Jane Ogilvie has searched a patch of dense shrub shaded by sugar gums on Kangaroo Island in South Australia for a surviving relic from 150m years ago.
The critically endangered Kangaroo Island assassin spider's only known home is in the north-west of the island, where this Jurassic-era spider hides out in moist clumps of leaf litter.
In more than a month of searches, and with just a couple more weeks to go, Ogilvie and a few helpers have only found one tiny juvenile.
'We get so excited when we find a good area but then it's deflating. Everything is so dry – it's hardly rained for two years,' says Ogilvie, a conservation biologist working with the charity Invertebrates Australia.
Last year, scientists found just one mature female and six juveniles at six locations, all in a 20 sq kilometre-area that includes a block of land owned by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest.
Those same locations have come up blank this year. The spiders need the moist microclimate of the leaf litter to survive, but there's a trifecta of threats drying out their habitat and pushing them ever closer to extinction.
The spider's last remaining bolthole has been through near-record drought over the last 18 months, with rainfall among the lowest on record since 1900.
The black summer bushfires burned through large areas of potential habitat that have not yet recovered, and an invasive plant root disease – known as phytophthora – is damaging the forest canopy and the plants that hold some of the leaf litter where the spiders live, drying out the habitat even further.
'If we look at the risks and be realistic, they're potentially one big fire away from extinction,' says Dr Michael Rix, the principal scientist and curator of arachnology at Queensland Museum, who collected the first specimens of the spider and, with scientific colleague Mark Harvey, formally described them.
'By all objective measures, its existence is phenomenally precarious.'
The Kangaroo Island assassin spider is one of 11 invertebrates on the federal government's priority list of threatened species.
The assassin family of spiders – which get their name from their habit of slowly stalking and then eating other spiders – are found only in Australia, Madagascar and parts of southern Africa.
Kangaroo Island's assassin was found in 2010 by Rix, who, along with Harvey, has described 37 of Australia's 41 assassin spiders.
'We collect this suspended leaf litter and shake it. The spiders close their legs and they drop down. I looked in the tray to see what's there – I knew it was undescribed. It was one of the really memorable moments of my field biology career. Very exciting,' he remembers.
Rix says they have the most unusual appearance of any spider, with 'incredible elevated heads and long spear-like mouth parts'.
'They're unmistakeable,' he says. 'They're an early branch in the spider's tree of life. Assassin spiders are ancient and those around today are survivors of 150m years of life on Earth.
'They were only known as fossils before any living ones were found in Madagascar in the 19th century.'
Sign up to Breaking News Australia
Get the most important news as it breaks
after newsletter promotion
Kangaroo Island's species was feared extinct after bushfires swept across the west of the island in the black summer bushfires of 2019 and 2020 until Dr Jess Marsh, a research fellow at the University of Adelaide and an invertebrate conservation biologist based on the island, found two specimens in 2021 in a small patch of unburned vegetation.
'It's being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas,' says Marsh. 'Each survey we do is increasing our confidence that its restricted to this patch of vegetation, and nowhere else.'
Marsh and colleagues are now discussing the idea of establishing a breeding program for the spiders in a zoo, creating an 'insurance population' – but removing individuals from the wild carries clear risks that Marsh says wouldn't be taken lightly.
'They've survived mass extinction events and past climate changes – a huge amount. Now in this short period of time, it's humans that are really testing them.'
Rix says the precarious situation the spiders find themselves in is part of a much bigger wave of largely unseen extinctions of invertebrates.
Officially, Australia lists only one invertebrate as extinct – the Lake Pedder earthworm.
But last year, Rix, Marsh and colleagues released research that estimated that since the European invasion of Australia, about 9,000 invertebrates had likely suffered a so-called ghost extinction – 'the loss of undiscovered species that have left no trace.'
'Some people might say, 'who cares about a tiny spider going extinct'?' says Rix. 'But this is part of the quantum of invertebrate extinctions that we're experiencing right now. This might be a problem that creeps up on us.
'There's a concept of conserving evolutionary significant units – retaining diversity that speaks deeply to Earth's evolutionary history. That is what these spiders are – a window into the past. They're survivors. Trying to conserve them is so important.'
Marsh and Rix were the only two people to have ever found a Kangaroo Island assassin spider, until this week's discovery – not by a scientist, but an enthusiastic 17-year-old volunteer called Jack Wilson who was filling his time during school holidays.
'It was probably my 10th sieve of the day,' he says.
'They can look like little blobs of dirt, but it's the big neck that gives them away. I'm pretty chuffed. It's crazy.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting
World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting

The Guardian

time3 hours ago

  • The Guardian

World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting

The world's smallest snake has been rediscovered in Barbados, 20 years after its last sighting. The Barbados threadsnake, which had been feared extinct, was rediscovered under a rock in the centre of the island during an ecological survey in March by the environment ministry and the conservation organisation Re:wild. The reptile can reach up to 10cm in length when it is fully grown and is as thin as a strand of spaghetti. It had been on a global list of 4,800 plants, animals and fungi species that have been lost to science. The rarity of the snake is a concern for scientists. Connor Blades, a project officer for the environment ministry, said: 'If the threadsnake population is not very dense, I am worried about their ability to find mates, particularly if their habitat is under threat and being degraded.' Blades and Justin Springer, the Caribbean programme officer at Re:wild, had been looking for the threadsnake and several other endemic reptiles for more than a year as part of a conservation project. During the survey in March, Springer said he jokingly told Blade: 'I smell a threadsnake,' while turning over a rock trapped under a tree root. And there it was. 'When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don't see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,' Springer said. Blades took the snake to the University of the West Indies where examination under a microscope revealed the pale orange lines running across its body and the scale on its nose that confirmed it was what they were looking for. The first sighting of the Barbados threadsnake was in 1889, and there have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since. The threadsnake reproduces sexually and the females lay only one egg at a time, unlike some other reptiles that can produce fertile eggs without mating. With 98% of the island's forest having been cleared for agriculture since it was colonised more than 500 years ago, conservationists are concerned for the reptile's extinction from habitat destruction and invasive species. 'The threadsnake's rediscovery is also a call to all of us as Barbadians that forests in Barbados are very special and need protection,' said Springer. 'Not just for the threadsnake, but for other species as well. For plants, animals and our heritage.'

Weird swelling revealed first sign man's fingers and toes were ‘completely replaced' by cancer
Weird swelling revealed first sign man's fingers and toes were ‘completely replaced' by cancer

The Sun

time3 hours ago

  • The Sun

Weird swelling revealed first sign man's fingers and toes were ‘completely replaced' by cancer

A MAN developed painful swelling in one of his fingers and toes over the course of six weeks. It turned out to be a rare sign of cancer that had spread through his body - and the bones in his digits had been " completely replaced" by cancerous tumours. 2 Prior to swelling, the 55-year-old from Australia had been diagnosed with metastatic squamous-cell lung cancer. Squamous cell lung cancer is known for spreading to multiple sites, including the brain, spine and other bones, adrenal glands, and liver. It's a type of non-small cell cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, and accounts for roughly 80-85 per cent of all lung cancer cases. His case was published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine. Six weeks after noticing swelling in his right middle finger and his right big toe, the man went to his local hospital. Doctors found the tip of each was red and swollen, and an ulcer had formed near the nail of the affected toe. The swollen areas were firm to touch and tender, the doctors reported. Scans revealed his hand and foot contained "destructive lytic lesions that had completely replaced" the bones in the finger and toe. Lytic lesions are areas of bone destruction that appear as holes or weakened spots on imaging scans. While cancer that's spread to the fingers and toes may mimic gout on a physical examination, a scan called a radiograph can help identify lytic lesions, the patient's doctors noted. The man was diagnosed with acrometastasis - the rare occurrence of cancerous tumours metastasising to the bones of the hands or feet. Acrometastases account for about 0.1 per cent of all metastatic cancers, according to a 2021 review. In most cases, the condition is seen in patients who already have cancer. But in some instances, acrometastasis can be the first sign for undiagnosed cancers. It's most often linked to cancers of the lung, gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary tract. Acrometastases are seen more often in males than in females, according to the review. 2 And it tends to be rare, because in most cases, cancer cells are drawn to bone marrow, which is found in the long bones of the arms, legs, ribs, backbone, breastbone and pelvis. Finger and toe bones contain less bone marrow. Additionally, the further a bone is from the heart, the less blood it gets. Lower blood flow makes it harder for cancer cells to reach the fingertips or toes, so acrometastases happen less often there. Because acrometastases are usually seen in late-stage cancers, they're linked to poor survival rate. Treatments are typically focused on relieving a patient's pain and retaining as much function in the hand or foot as possible. In the 55-year-old's case, he was started on palliative radiotherapy, which aims to relieve symptoms rather than cure the disease. The doctors reports he died three weeks later from complications of refractory hypercalcemia - persistently high calcium levels in the blood that don't respond to standard treatments. Common symptoms of acrometastasis Acrometastasis, the spread of cancer to the bones of the hands or feet, can present with symptoms like pain, swelling, redness, and warmth in the affected area. These symptoms can mimic benign conditions like arthritis or infection, leading to potential diagnostic delays. Common symptoms include: Pain: Often deep-seated, intermittent, and may not be relieved by typical painkillers. Swelling: Can be localized to a specific digit or involve a larger area. Redness and warmth: May indicate an inflammatory process, but can also be a sign of acrometastasis. Tenderness: The affected area may be tender to the touch. Functional impairment: Difficulty using the hand or foot due to pain or swelling. Ulceration or bleeding: In some cases, the skin over the affected area may ulcerate or bleed. Palpable mass: A lump or mass may be felt in the affected digit.

World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting
World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting

The Guardian

time7 hours ago

  • The Guardian

World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting

The world's smallest snake has been rediscovered in Barbados, 20 years after its last sighting. The Barbados threadsnake, which had been feared extinct, was rediscovered under a rock in the centre of the island during an ecological survey in March by the nation's environment ministry and the conservation organisation Re:wild. The reptile can reach 9 to 10 cm in length when it is fully grown and is as thin as a strand of spaghetti. It had been on a global list of 4,800 plants, animals and fungi species that have been lost to science. The rarity of the snake is a concern for scientists. Connor Blades, a project officer for the Barbados environment ministry, said: 'If the threadsnake population is not very dense, I am worried about their ability to find mates, particularly if their habitat is under threat and being degraded.' Blades and Justin Springer, the Caribbean programme officer at Re:wild, had been looking for the threadsnake and several other endemic reptiles for more than a year as part of a conservation project. During a survey in March, Springer jokingly told Blade 'I smell a threadsnake' while turning over a rock trapped under a tree root; to their surprise, the snake was beneath it. 'When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don't see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,' Springer said. Blades took the snake to the University of the West Indies, and upon examination under a microscope, the pale orange lines running across its body and the scale on its nose confirmed it was what they were looking for. The first sighting of the Barbados threadsnake was in 1889, and there have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since. The threadsnake reproduces sexually and the females lay a clutch of only one egg, unlike some other reptiles that can produce fertile eggs without mating. With 98% of the island's forest has been cleared for agriculture since it was colonised more than 500 years ago, conservationists are concerned for the rediscovered reptile's extinction by habitat destruction and invasive species. 'The threadsnake's rediscovery is also a call to all of us as Barbadians that forests in Barbados are very special and need protection,' said Springer. 'Not just for the threadsnake, but for other species as well. For plants, animals and our heritage.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store