Arizona Discovers New Tarantula Species And There May Be More

If you're afraid of spiders, here's one more reason to avoid Arizona. A never before seen species of tarantula has been discovered creeping around in the desert.

Tarantulas can be big and scary looking but, honestly, don't get all freaked out. They're pretty docile and won't hurt you. They pose a very, very slight bite risk and they're venom isn't likely to kill you ... it may be a lil painful though.

They will throw their hair at you though which can be irritating, especially if it gets in your eyes, nose or you inhale them. Just keep spidey away from your face and wash your hands after handling. Easy peasy.. Tarantulas come in all kinds of colors and sizes and they live all over the world. They're, as far as spiders go, pretty mellow and not prone to biting. Learn more here.

Why Are People So Afraid Of Tarantulas?

We can actually thank the tarantulas laid back, easy going temperament ... and Hollywood ... for the fact that so many people are terrified of them. Their mean looking but easy to handle and relatively harmless so whenever Hollywood needs to get a menacing spider scene going, guess who the "star" is?

People, kids even, keep them as pets so; there goes that evil, fearsome reputation. There are lots of them too - over 900 species are known to exist and Arizona just discovered a new one in the Chiricahua Mountains.

The new guy was actually discovered back in 2019 but wasn't named as a tarantula until now.

The discovery of A. jacobii began in a case of mistaken identity, the scientists said. Spiders initially collected in 2019 were thought to be part of another species, A. chiricahua, named after the mountainous region both spider species inhabit.

After scientists conducted DNA analysis of the tarantulas collected in 2019, they discovered that some of the spiders had genetic markers that were different from those of A. chiricahua. - foxweather.com

See pics here.