Question Worlds Oldest Spider (2018 Story)

From the Article:
'The World's Oldest Known Spider Has Died at the Age of 43 after a quiet life underground
Published April 30th, 2018
Agence France-Presse

'The world’s oldest known spider has died at the ripe old age of 43 after being monitored for years during a long-term population study in Australia, researchers say.

The trapdoor matriarch comfortably outlived the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico, according to a study published on Monday in the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.

The spider did not die of old age but was killed by a wasp sting, researchers said.'

'“To our knowledge this is the oldest spider ever recorded, and her significant life has allowed us to further investigate the trapdoor spider’s behaviour and population dynamics,” said the lead author, Leanda Mason from Curtin University in Perth.

A research project to study trapdoor spiders in the central wheatbelt region of Western Australia was launched in 1974 by Barbara York Main, during which Number16 was found and monitored.

“Through Barbara’s detailed research, we were able to determine that the extensive life span of the trapdoor spider is due to their life-history traits, including how they live in uncleared, native bushland, their sedentary nature and low metabolisms,” Mason said.'

Image One: Number 16, a female trapdoor spider who was the world's oldest known spider. Photograph: Leanda Mason/AFP/Getty Images

Agence France-Presse. (2018, April 30). World's oldest known spider dies at 43 after a quiet life underground. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/30/worlds-oldest-known-spider-dies-at-43-after-a-quiet-life-underground