New spider species named after Aragog in Harry Potter

A new species of the wolf spider family has been named after Aragog, the giant, sentient spider in the Harry Potter wizard and magic story.

Researchers from Tehran University discovered the spider during a search for butterflies in the mountains of southeastern Iran. After a review and consideration process, the team confirmed that the spider is actually an unknown species of the wolf spider family with the scientific classification Lycosidae.

The portrait of a new spider discovered in southeastern Iran, named Lycosa Aragogi.

They also realized the structural similarities between the spider named Lycosa aragogi and Aragog , the friend of Professor Hagrid's favorite spider in the second novel 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. .

It is about 3cm long and about 5cm wide - much smaller than the fictional creature in the novel - but has a similar skeleton with eight eyes and fur on the outside.

According to Alireza Zamani, a researcher at Tehran University and a member of the discovery team, Lycosa Aragogi has similarities that coincide with Aragog under the image of a wolf spider. Movie version appeared in 2002.

The official announcement of this newly discovered spider species was published in Zootaxa, a scientific journal about the classification of animals. Lycosa aragogi is different from other wolf spiders because of its unique genital structure in females. Although the spider family of Lycosa is one of the most widely distributed species, with more than 2,400 species, they do not seem to be known in Iran.

Brian Brown, the head of the insect department at the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles, said: 'There are at least hundreds, sometimes thousands of species of spiders in the world that are still unknown. Nature is still a big unknown to humans. "

These researchers are also skeptical that Lycosa aragogi can live in other parts of Iran and neighboring countries.

Easily see the similarities between Lycosa aragogi and the giant spider Aragog in Harry Potter.

Like Aragog, Lycosa aragogi is a aggressive predator. They will not spray silk to create spider webs but will hunt at night. They will eat all the weaker animals, mainly crickets and other small insects. According to the researchers, they are toxic but not too toxic to harm humans.

Scientists, who made this discovery, were inspired by the cast of similarity between Lycosa aragogi and Aragog - the spider allowed his slaves to attack Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in the forbidden Forest. Although they are Hagrid's dear friends.

Zamani said: 'These wolf spiders will always carry eggs at all times and then carry their children on their backs, sometimes up to hundreds of them, in the first weeks since birth. Personally, I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series and the films except the series. Aragog is a magical creature that I really like. I think this will be a cool and daring idea when naming this new spider is similar to the name of the infamous giant spider in the movie ".

Lycosa aragogi is not the first spider inspired by Harry Potter. Last year, scientists in India named a newly discovered spider species Eriovixia gryffindori , similar to the famous Hogwarts magic hat shape.

The Eriovixia gryffindori spiders resemble the magic hat at Hogwarts.

If you say that Harry Potter is a literary masterpiece with profound philosophies, the discovery of this spider hopes that Lycosa aragogi will create interest in this spider. Perhaps so, Zamani said: 'I always put public awareness and education as one of the important goals. Perhaps choosing interesting names to name new species will make us look more positively to the spiders, and will make many people more interested in attractive animal groups but unknowingly. forgotten this ".