Spider named after Gryffindor

A never before seen species of spider has recently been found by researchers from the University of Mumbai (India). Living in forests the Karnataka, a state in south western region of India, it has been given the honour of being named after a character of the novels of J.K. Rowling: Eriovixia gryffindori[1].

The spider, barely 7 millimeters in length, resembles the magical sorting hat that sorts students into one of four Hogwarts houses. The spider takes this peculiar shape to camouflage itself in order to resemble a dried leaf during the daytime to protect it from predators.

This uniquely shaped spider derives its name from the fabulous, sentient magical artifact, the sorting hat, once owned by the medieval wizard Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and stemming from the powerful imagination of J. K. Rowling, wordsmith extraordinaire.

An ode from the authors, for magic lost, and found, in an effort to draw attention to the fascinating, but oft overlooked world of invertebrates, and their secret lives.

The findings were published in the well known and widely read Indian Journal of Arachnology.

[1] Ahmed et al: A New Species of Dry Foliage Mimicking Eriovixia Archer, 1951 from Central Western Ghats, India (Araneae: Araneidae) in Indian Journal of Arachnology - 2016. See here.