The world's oldest spider lived to be 43 before a wasp's sting did her in

Authored by amp.cnn.com and submitted by dranowg

(CNN) This is No. 16, a 43-year-old spider. Or, rather, this was No. 16.

She died a tragic death when she was violently attacked by a wasp in Western Australia.

What makes her story remarkable is that until her death, this trapdoor spider was the oldest known spider in the world.

Trapdoor spiders are called such because they don't spin webs like many others. Instead, they live underground and build a cork-like trapdoor out of soil, vegetation, and silk, which they use to trap insects.

The lifespan of a trapdoor spider is between five and 20 years.

"To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded, and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider's behavior and population dynamics," said Leanda Mason, the lead author of the study that documented No. 16's life.

Number 16's burrow lid was pierced by a mean parasitic wasp, whose sting later killed her.

No. 16 lived in Western Australia, where trapdoor spiders were the subject of a decades-long study that began in 1974.

Thanks to the detailed and long-term research, scientists determined why No. 16 lived so long:

It lived in uncleared, native bushland

Trapdoor spiders may look a bit intimidating but they pose no danger to humans. Their bites are nontoxic to humans and they are usually very timid.

No. 16 died in May 2017. But the death was reported in detail in the Pacific Conservation Biology journal this month.

She outlived the previous world record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico.

chiefbigfox on September 2nd, 2018 at 03:30 UTC »

In what country does a spider live till 43 and then die by a wasp sting? You guessed it.

soon2Bintoxicated on September 2nd, 2018 at 03:07 UTC »

Are we sure one of the scienctist's moms* didn't just keep replacing the spider with another one that looked exactly like it?

*mom's what?

hematomatoed on September 2nd, 2018 at 02:41 UTC »

What's interesting to me is that the article contains absolutely no evidence that this species of spider undergoes biological aging at all (where "biological aging" means that mortality increases with time).

There seems to be mounting evidence that many simpler life forms just live until something kills them.