Sydney (AFP) - The world's oldest known spider has died at the ripe old age of 43 after being monitored for years during a long-term population study in Australia, researchers said Monday.

The trapdoor matriarch comfortably outlived the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico, according to a study published in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.

The spider did not die of old age but was killed by a wasp sting, researchers said.

Named Number 16, the spider helped scientists to unlock important information about the behaviour of an arachnid that can be found across Australia, including in domestic gardens.

"To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded, and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider's behaviour and population dynamics," said lead author Leanda Mason from Curtin University.

A research project to study trapdoor spiders in the Central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia was first launched in 1974 by Barbara York Main, during which Number 16 was found and monitored.

"Through Barbara's detailed research, we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms," said Mason.

Number 16 was monitored in the wild. Female trapdoor spiders stay in and around the same burrow virtually all their lives, so researchers marked her burrow and went back to check on it regularly.

The study also gave a better understanding of how the future stresses of climate change and deforestation could impact the species.

Trapdoor spiders traditionally have a life span between five to 20 years. While females stay in or near their burrows, males leave once mature and go in search of a mate.

They are not a major threat to humans, although a bite can cause pain and swelling.</s>April 30 (UPI) -- A team of Australian scientists said they were "really miserable" to discover the world's oldest-known spider was killed by a wasp sting at the age of 43.

Leanda Mason, lead author of the Curtin University study published in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal, said the female trapdoor spider, known as Number 16, was 43 years old when it was killed by a wasp sting at its burrow in the wild.

The previous record-holder for oldest spider was a 28-year-old Mexican tarantula documented by researchers.

"We're really miserable about it," Mason told The Daily Telegraph of the spider's death. "We were hoping she could have made it to 50 years old."

Female trapdoor spiders tend to remain in the areas around their burrows for their entire lives, allowing Number 16 to be studied in the wild.

"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 popular dynamics," Mason said in a Curtin University news release.

Barbara York Main, 88, who was Mason's teacher, began studying Number 16 shortly after the spider's birth in 1974.

"Through Barbara's detailed research," Mason said, "we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms."</s>SYDNEY — The world oldest-known spider has died at the age of 43 after being killed by a wasp sting, according to CBS News.

The trapdoor matriarch outlived the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico.

The spider, named Number 16, had helped researchers learn more about the longevity of the arachnoid.

“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, lead authority at Curtin University.

A research project to study trapdoor spiders was started by Barbara York Main in 1974.

“Through Barbara’s detailed research, we were able to determine that the extensive lifespan of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature, and low metabolisms,” Mason said.

Trapdoor spiders have a typical lifespan between five and 20 years.</s>Scientists in Australia say they are heartbroken after the world’s oldest-known spider has died — from a wasp sting.

The antique arachnid, known as Number 16, passed away at 43, beating the previous record-holder, a Mexican tarantula that met its maker at age 28, according to a study published in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.

“We’re really miserable about it,” Leanda Mason, the study’s lead scientist told England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. “We were hoping she could have made it to 50 years old.”

The female Gaius Villosus, or trapdoor spider, had been under observation in the wild since its birth in 1974, the paper reported, part of research that is the life’s work of Barbara York Main, now 88, who first studied Number 16 shortly after its birth.

“To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider’s behaviour and popular dynamics,” said Mason, a student of Main, in a statement from Curtin University in Western Australia where the research was based.

“Through Barbara’s detailed research,” Mason added, “we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms.”

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Trapdoor spiders usually live between five to 20 years, with females staying in or near their burrows, while males wander around searching for females to mate with. They are not considered to be a major threat to humans, although a bite can cause pain and swelling.

Number 16 was monitored in the wild, Agence France-Presse reported. Female trapdoor spiders stay in and around the same burrow virtually all their lives, so the researchers marked her location and went back to check on it regularly.</s>The world’s oldest known spider has died after a record-breaking lifespan of 43 years, according to researchers in Australia.

The spider, known as Number 16 to Australian scientists, was a female trapdoor tarantula living in Western Australia’s Central Wheatbelt region, Agence France-Press reports. The spider didn’t die of old age, however, but was killed by a wasp sting, researchers said Monday.

The long-lived arachnid far outlasted the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula in Mexico, according to a study published in January in the journal . Number 16 was discovered during a spider population study in 1974, and has been monitored by researchers since then.

“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 lead author in study.

Speaking to the , Mason said the team were “really miserable” over the spider’s death.

Trapdoor spiders, which are common across Australia and can be found in the wild as well as in residential areas, typically live between five and 20 years. Females often live most to all of their lives in the same burrow hole, and are not considered dangerous to humans.</s>The trapdoor matriarch comfortably outlived the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico, according to a study published in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.

The spider did not die of old age but was killed by a wasp sting, researchers said.

Named Number 16, the spider helped scientists to unlock important information about the behaviour of an arachnid that can be found across Australia, including in domestic gardens.

"To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded, and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider's behaviour and population dynamics," said lead author Leanda Mason from Curtin University.

A research project to study trapdoor spiders in the Central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia was first launched in 1974 by Barbara York Main, during which Number 16 was found and monitored.

Trapdoor spiders traditionally have a life span between five to 20 years. While females stay in or near their burrows, males leave once mature and go in search of a mate.

They are not a major threat to humans, although a bite can cause pain and swelling.</s>AUSTRALIA (CBS Local) – The world’s oldest known spider has died in Western Australia at the age of 43. The record-breaking arachnid was 15 years older than any other spider scientists have found.
• Female Giaus Villosus, better known as a trapdoor spider, succumbed to wasp sting
• By remaining in same burrow from birth, female trapdoor spiders use little energy

According to a report in Pacific Conservation Biology, the ancient trapdoor spider was killed by a wasp sting in the country’s Central Wheatbelt region recently. The female arachnid, known as “Number 16,” was discovered by Barbara York Main in 1974 and eventually outlived a 28-year-old tarantula in Mexico – the former oldest spider.

“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 popular dynamics,” the spider study’s current lead author Leanda Mason told The Telegraph. “We’re really miserable about it. We were hoping she could have made it to 50 years old.”

The spider likely managed to live for so long by staying in the same burrow its entire life, allowing it to use little energy over the years.

The trapdoor spider is a common sight in Australia and reportedly lives between five and 20 years. Females like Number 16 reportedly live out most of their lives in the same burrow hole. Males are more likely to be seen by humans as they leave their burrow in search of a mate.

The Australian researchers added in their report that the remarkably long life of Number 16 could actually “provide lessons for humanity and sustainable living.”</s>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.

The cause of its longevity

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:

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.</s>According to TIME, the world’s oldest spider, a 43-year-old, female trapdoor tarantula (Gaius villosus) known as Number 16, died recently because of a wasp sting.

The sad news was first shared by which published the recent results of a long-term population study in the Central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.

Number 16 did not die in vain. The arachnid matriarch, who lasted long after the previous record holder for World’s Oldest Spider — a 28-year old tarantula from Mexico — and the information she unknowingly shared, will continue to help researchers unlock the secrets of the trapdoor tarantula’s longevity. Knowledge which could help humans with sustainable living.

“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,” the lead author of the recent study, Curtin University PhD student Leanda Mason, told the school in a statement.

The effort to learn more about how these creatures last in the Australian bushland (low metabolism and a”sedentary nature” appear to be key) was first started by Barbara York Main in 1974.

Number 16 was discovered during the early stages of the long-term population study and was monitored until her death in the wild.

While the lead lady spider of the study is no longer with us, the research team plans to continue Main’s work, extending it to see how climate change, deforestation and other stresses affect the species, according to Curtin University.

While the research didn’t mention this, it seems clears that no living critter is a big fan of wasps.</s>The world’s oldest spider has died at the age of 43 after being attacked by a wasp, according to scientists in Perth, Australia.



The 43-year-old female Giaus Villosus trapdoor spider was known as “Number 16,” to researchers from the School of Molecular and Life Sciences at Curtin University who published their findings in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal in April.

The research on the spider population in the Central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia began back in 1974 when Barbara York Main, who is now 88 years old, discovered Number 16 shortly after the spider was born.

“To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded, and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider’s behaviour and population dynamics,” Leanda Mason, a PhD student at Curtin University and lead author of the report, said in a statement.

“Through Barbara’s detailed research, we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms.”

Number 16 is believed to have outlived the previous record-holder—a 28-year-old pet tarantula in Mexico—by 15 years by remaining in the same burrow for her entire life, only emerging to ambush small prey as they pass by.



“We’re really miserable about it,” Mason told The Telegraph about Number 16’s death. “We were hoping she could have made it to 50 years old.”
The world's oldest known spider, a trapdoor spider known as "Number 16", dies of a wasp sting at the age of 43.