Tasmanian Schoolboy’s Spider Find Leads to New Wolf Spider Species
A ten-year-old on Deal Island collected a tiny spider that scientists later identified as a previously unknown species, naming it Artoriopsis murphyi.
In 2020, ten-year-old Murphy Widdowson found a minute spider while on Deal Island off Tasmania’s northeast coast and contacted the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston for identification. Museum arachnologist John Douglas was unable to match the specimen to any known species, so the sample was sent to spider taxonomist Volker Framenau in Western Australia for further study. Microscopic examination of the spider’s sexual organs showed it differed from all described members of its genus, leading researchers to declare it a new species of wolf spider.
The new taxon was christened Artoriopsis murphyi in recognition of Murphy’s curiosity. A ceremony attended by his family, teacher, museum staff and volunteers marked the occasion, even featuring a cake bearing the scientific name. The spider, about five millimetres long, is not considered dangerous to humans.
Why it matters
The find highlights how citizen observations can contribute to documenting Australia’s still-largely unknown biodiversity.
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