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Would You Bid For a Newly Discovered Tarantula's Name?

Well, two men in Thailand just did so for the electric blue - one of the rarest colours in nature - tarantula that was recently discovered in Thailand's Phang Nga province. Happily, their financial donation will go towards helping the Lahu indigenous group of Northern Thailand and Southern China. While recognized by the latter, in Thailand their existence is denied, and they are subject to mistreatment by the government according to the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs.


Newly discovered tarantula species
Credit: Narin Chomphuphuang

The new “mesmerizing” electric blue tarantula species was found living in a mangrove forest and amongst the team that discovered it was Thai wildlife YouTuber JoCho Sippawat, who is also an author on the paper published last week in the research journal ZooKeys.


The team auctioned off the right to name the new species to publicize the find and raise awareness and funds for the indigenous Lahu people of northern Thailand, a group that Sippawat is part of, reports CNN. Unfortunately, there is no word of how much was paid for the privilege, but the species new name is Chilobrachys natanicharum.


It's derived from the names of two executives from the company that won the naming campaign.


“The enchanting phenomenon of blue coloration in animals arises from the fact that blue is one of the rarest colors found in nature, and it is a structural color that is produced by the arrangement of biological photonic nanostructures, rather than pigments,” Mr. Chomphuphuang writes in the introduction of a study describing the species.


“C. natanicharum has unique coloration due to the presence of two types of hair: metallic-blue and violet ones. The color depends on the ratio of the two hair colors,” they wrote in the journal ZooKeys.

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