VICE
Scientists have just discovered four tarantula species with genitals so unusually long that they had to be put in a category of their own. Literally.
Their mating appendages are so extreme that researchers couldn’t cram them into any existing spider genus—so they made a new one: Satyrex.
In the world of tarantulas, male genitalia typically scales at about twice the length of the spider’s upper body. But these guys? Their palps—the sperm-delivery limbs—are four times longer than their cephalothorax (that’s head-plus-torso, for non-arachnologists), and almost half the length of their longest legs. In one case, that’s a 2-inch genital limb on a 5.5-inch spider.
“The males of these spiders have the longest palps amongst all known tarantulas,” lead researcher Alireza Zamani said in a stateme
ESPN NFL Headlines