Tarantula Species Named After Johnny Cash

And the tarantula’s dark coloration reminded Hamilton of Cash’s preference for head-to-toe black attire, which had earned Cash the nickname, “The Man in Black”.

After discovering 14 new species of tarantula in the southwestern United States, the team of researchers chose to name one after Johnny Cash. Currently, there are more than 2,300 specimens of tarantulas stored in the Auburn University Museum of Natural History (AUMNH). So, not only was the spider found near Folsom Prison, but all of the males of the species are completely black.

And no, we’re not talking about some random person who’s chose to name their new pet spider “Johnny”. It was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, located in the same county as Folsom Prison, where Cash gave one of his most famous performances. Hamilton said this was to commemorate Dave Moellenderof, his fellow arachnologist who introduced him to the distribution of tarantula in Texas and supported his interest in them.

The study conducted by biologists represents a huge step forward in our understanding of the genus Aphonopelma, a harmless type of tarantula found mostly in the southern States. The study was carried out to reorganize the group of tarantulas and has reclassified the majority of 55 known tarantula species and 14 new ones were added including Cash.

The researchers studied some 3000 specimens during their task in what they called the most exhaustive taxonomic study ever undertaken in the field.

Prior to Dr Hamilton’s research, it was believed Aphonopelma johnnycashi was one of 50 separate species, but following extensive analysis, he was able to find that there was a lot of double-counting at play which subsequently saw the number of species reduced to 29.

With the others, however, scientists employed a different method of naming them.

A study published recently in the Journal Zookeys on-line magazine reveals 14 new tarantula species to the world, including one that was named after the renowned blues singer, Johnny Cash.

Tarantulas within the Aphonopelma genus are some of the most unique in the United States due to the extreme size differences between species – some have a leg span about as long as the face on an American quarter, whereas others reach six inches in leg span. We expect them to be discovered in some “remote corners of the earth”, but discovering them living among us only goes to show how astonishingly little we know about the biodiversity of our planet.