澳大利亚蜘蛛或是全球最快捕食者

Australian Spider May be World’s Fastest 澳大利亚蜘蛛或是全球最快捕食者

Australia is home to many unknown species. Researchers now say that it may be home to the world’s fastest lunging predator¹.

The karaops spider is a small and flat spider found only in Australia. The spider is a predator that gets its food by killing² and eating other insects. It has eight legs and usually creates a web of sticky threads to catch insects for food.

Sarah Crews, 38, is a researcher at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. She spent two months in the Australian Outback, collecting 100 karaops spiders.

Crews told the Australian Broadcasting Company, or ABC, that collecting the spiders was not easy. They usually hide under loose bark, often on eucalyptus³ trees.

She and her research assistant spent a lot of time turning over rocks to find and catch the speedy spiders.

“I’ve worked on these spiders, this family, for about 15 years now and I just don’t really care about other spiders at all anymore,” Crews told ABC. “I just like these guys.”

The spiders will be examined with high-definition cameras at the Academy of Sciences.

Linda Rayor is an expert on insect behavior, including spiders, at Cornell University in New York. She said Crews appears to be onto something about the unusual speed of karaops.

“I’ve tried catching⁴ some of these spiders and they are ridiculously fast,” Rayor told VOA. “I study Aussie huntsman spiders, which are also very, very fast.”

The karaops spiders are “even zippier,” she said. By that, she means faster.

Robert Raven⁵ is the senior curator of spiders at the Queensland Museum in Australia. He says karaops are skilled hunters.

The website spiders.us says that most spiders eat insects and other spiders. Spiders larger than karaops have been known to eat small animals, such as rodents⁷, the website reports.

The website tries to offer information it hopes will show some fears people have of spiders are not based on facts.

Rayor, the Cornell University insect expert, said the huntsman spiders she researches are more social than most.

“I am interested in the behavior and physiology⁸ that makes living in groups of cannibals possible,” she said. “On a broader scale, spiders are so damned interesting and understudied that they are a behavioral researchers dream.”

Australia is home to about 10,000 species of spiders. Only a third of the species have been identified so far.

Words in This Story

lunging – adj. to move or reach forward in a sudden, forceful way

thread – n. a long thin line of something

eucalyptus tree – n. there are 700 varieties of these very tall trees

high-definition – adj. having a very clear picture and a wide screen

ridiculously – adv. extremely or unreasonably⁹

rodent⁶ – n. a small animal, such as a mouse, rat, squirrel, or beaver¹⁰, that has sharp front teeth

physiology – n. a science that deals with the ways that living things function

cannibal – n. an animal that eats its own kind

1 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 eucalyptus   

n.桉树，桉属植物

参考例句：

• Eucalyptus oil is good for easing muscular aches and pains.桉树油可以很好地缓解肌肉的疼痛。
• The birds rustled in the eucalyptus trees.鸟在桉树弄出沙沙的响声。

4 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

5 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

6 rodent   

n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的

参考例句：

• When there is a full moon,this nocturnal rodent is careful to stay in its burrow.月圆之夜，这种夜间活动的啮齿类动物会小心地呆在地洞里不出来。
• This small rodent can scoop out a long,narrow tunnel in a very short time.这种小啮齿动物能在很短的时间里挖出一条又长又窄的地道来。

7 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

8 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

9 unreasonably   

adv. 不合理地

参考例句：

• He was also petty, unreasonably querulous, and mean. 他还是个气量狭窄，无事生非，平庸刻薄的人。
• Food in that restaurant is unreasonably priced. 那家饭店价格不公道。

10 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。