A Euoplos dignitas spider pictured in 2021.

Queensland Museum

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Queensland Museum

A Euoplos dignitas spider pictured in 2021.

Queensland Museum

A lure door with silken hinges would possibly sound like one thing out of a fairy story, but it surely’s truly one thing that comes out of some spiders — and there is a new species so as to add to the listing. Researchers in Australia found a uncommon, large species of trapdoor spider discovered solely in Central Queensland.

Its title, Euoplos dignitas, comes from the Latin phrase which means dignity or greatness, “reflecting the impressive size and nature of the spider,” the Queensland Museum stated in a statement.

“It’s a big, beautiful species,” Michael Rix, the principal curator of arachnology on the Queensland Museum Network, stated in a video asserting the discovering. The researchers’ objective was to “formally, scientifically document this new species.”

A spokesperson for the Queensland Museum stated the spider is greater than an inch lengthy, or in regards to the dimension of an Australian 50 cent coin, which is barely bigger than an American half-dollar.

Euoplos dignitas lives in open woodland habitats, constructing burrows in Central Queensland’s black soils. Like many species of trapdoor spiders, it constructs its burrows with silken-hinged doorways, and it feeds by opening the lure door and snatching passing bugs.

These tropical and subtropical spiders are timid and not dangerous to humans, though trapdoor spider bites may cause pain and swelling.

Much of the newly found spider’s habitat has been misplaced to land clearing, which means it is seemingly an endangered species. The species “is now known to everyone and can be protected,” stated Jeremy Wilson, a analysis assistant in arachnology on the Queensland Museum Network, within the announcement video.