“O death, where is thy sting?”
For the world's oldest known spider, that biblical verse took on new meaning after the arachnid was killed by a wasp sting, Time reported.
The spider, tabbed as Number 16 by Australian scientists, died after a record 43 years, researchers said Monday.
The female trapdoor tarantula lived in Western Australia's Central Wheatbelt area, according to Agence France-Press reports. The spider broke the record of the previous spider, a tarantula that lived for 28 years in Mexico, according to a study published in January in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology. Number 16 was observed during a spider population study in 1974, Time reported.
“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 Curtin University’s Leanda Mason, the study’s lead author.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Mason said team members were "really miserable" over the spider's death, TheTelegraph reported.
Trapdoor spiders are common in Australia and typically live between five and 20 years, according to the Australian Museum.
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