Tom Hardy and Venom inspired the name of a newly discovered spider species

In 2018, Venom was released, the first installment of a saga produced by Sony Pictures and starring Tom Hardy (The Origin – 86%, The Dark Knight Rises – 87%, Mad Max: Fury Road – 97%). The first film was not well received by critics but it was a box office success, which ensured its sequel. And although the character from the comics was already very famous, with this film adaptation his popularity had a new boost, and thanks to this, now Venom and Hardy were the inspiration for naming an Australian spider.

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Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock and his alter ego Venom – 35%, an antihero closely associated with Spiderman, and what has appeared, not only alongside the arachnid, but in his two individual installments. The first, raises the story of origin of the character. It all begins when journalist Eddie Brock discovers a series of experiments carried out on humans and alien life forms, which he finds reprehensible. For this reason, he will do everything possible to expose this type of excess. This will affect you personally and professionally. In addition to the previous one when trying to obtain evidence of the organism called a symbiote, one of the creatures takes it as a host. This is where he begins a battle of wills, since the creature has a sense of its own existence, and will often try to control the human.

Comics and fiction stories in general, in addition to offering entertainment and reflection, often inspire people in different professions and scientists are not exempt from their influence. Just a month ago we reported that a species of fish was named in honor of Frodo Baggins, from The Lord of the Rings saga (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – 91%, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – 96%, The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King – 94%)

Now read: Sam Raimi admits he ruined Venom in Spider-Man 3 by not understanding the character

How was this new species discovered?

Now it was the turn of Tom Hardy and Venom, who have been chosen to name a newly discovered spider in Australia. Venomius tomhardyi is the only current species of the genus Venomius, and was discovered by scientists Giullia Rossi, Dr Pedro Castanheira and Dr Volker Framenau from Murdoch University (Perth, Australia), together with Dr Renner Baptista from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), in the publication Evolutionary Systematics (via Penosft Blog). The distinctive black spots on the arachnid’s abdomen reminded scientists of Venom’s head, hence the peculiar choice of name.

The genus belongs to the family of spiders Araneidae, or Araneae, which build vertical circular webs to capture their prey. Despite resembling the related genus Phonognatha, as both do not have tubercles on their abdomens, the newly described spiders differ in their behavior of creating silk-lined holes in tree branches for shelter, as well as their different genitalia.

This new species was discovered and subsequently preserved at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery following an expedition to Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

One of the collaborating authors, Dr. Pedro Castanheira, commented:

This is part of long-term research that aims to document the entire Australian spider fauna, which will be of utmost importance to conservation management plans and the continuation of the ten-year plan for taxonomy and biosystematics in Australia and New Zealand. .

Supplementary specimens were also collected from scientific arachnology collections, and approximately 12,000 records were studied at Australian and overseas institutions. The study’s first author, MSc Giullia Rossi, added:

It is really important to continue describing new spiders to assess the total biodiversity of these predators in Australia.

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