Number 16 🕷️
The oldest spider in the world
Most people see a spider and instinctively look away, but every spider
has a story worth telling.
Number 16 was a female trapdoor spider
monitored for decades as part of a long-term research project begun by
Australian arachnologist Professor Barbara York Main.
Main started her study of spider families in 1974. Main first
encountered Number 16 the following year in Tammin, Western Australia.
From then on, Main visited her annually. Number 16 lived in the same
burrow her whole life, and as she got older, Main and the other
researchers made it tradition to check her burrow first.
Due to Number 16's remarkable age, the study continued for longer than
expected. It was eventually passed on to Leanda Mason. In 2016, Mason
returned to Number 16's burrow only to find it empty. Her burrow had
likely been attacked by a parasitic spider wasp, which had killed her.
The trapdoor spider was tragically found dead near her burrow.
Number 16 became the oldest spider ever recorded in the wild at the
impressive age of 43 years old. Her extraordinary life reminds
us that even the creatures we fear most can reveal some of nature's most
fascinating stories.
Learn more about Number 16
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