Ghost spiders in the sky: New tarantula named after Johnny Cash - CNET

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A handsome new tarantula has made its debut on the world stage, and, just like its namesake, Aphonopelma johnnycashi knows a little something about style. The spider was named both for its location, near Folsom State Prison, and the colouring of the male tarantula, all black just like Johnny Cash's "Man in Black."

A. johnnycashi (perhaps "Sue" would have been less of a mouthful) is just one of 14 new spiders in the Aphonopelma genus described in a recent paper published in the open access joual ZooKeys.

"We often hear about how new species are being discovered from remote coers of the Earth, but what is remarkable is that these spiders are in our own backyard," said arachnologist Chris Hamilton of Aubu University, lead author of the study.

"With the Earth in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, it is astonishing how little we know about our planet's biodiversity, even for charismatic groups such as tarantulas."

The study reorganised and reclassified the genus, which previously contained 55 species, mostly scattered across the southweste third of the United States. Across the intricate study of nearly 3,000 individual spiders, the team from Aubu University and Millsaps College rearranged the genus into just 29 discrete species, 14 of which are new to science.