Spider named after NZ biologist

August 14, 2017

A  native species of spider has been named after New Zealand biologist Professor Simon Pollard .

The new species is a Trite pollardi is a small, flat jumping spider about 5mm long and commonly found on buildings and in gardens in both the North and the South Island.

The spider was previously called Holoplatys sp. as it didn’t have a species name.

However, Polish taxonomist Marek Zabka, who spent three months in New Zealand studying native jumping spiders, revised its status.

It was placed in the genus Trite and renamed in honour of Prof Pollard.

An award-winning author, Prof Pollard spent much of 2016 advising Te Papa and Weta Workshop on the $5 million Bug Lab science exhibition, which is touring internationally.

He was also the advisor for a spider sequence on the BBC’s David Attenborough series The Hunt.

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