EDMOND —
According to the March 9 issue of “Science News,” our president has another honor — this time from the scientific community. Dr. Jason Bond, director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, unveiled a hitherto unclassified species of trapdoor spider. This new spider has been dubbed Aptostichus (not pronounced “apt to stick us”) barackobamai. Before we take a closer look at this newly discovered master of stealth and deception, let’s review what we know about trapdoor spiders.
Their name springs from the ingenious trapdoor they construct to camouflage their hiding place as they lie in wait for their prey. This cleverly designed mechanism snaps open when the unwary victim blunders into the spider’s “kill zone.”
The spider constructs the trap using innocent appearing material — soil, leaves, grass, bits of bark — leaving the victim totally unaware that this normal appearing setting is, in fact, the scene of a lethal ambush.
The unfortunate prey has no easily discernible warning. The magnitude of the danger is unrealized until the trap springs and there is no chance of escape.
This deceptive predator survives and thrives because the nature of the danger it constructs from innocuous environmental material is hard to detect and can’t easily be observed until it’s too late.
Trapdoor spiders are very patient. Their elaborate traps are planned well in advance. They use thin strands of spider silk to construct a system of “trip lines” surrounding their lair. When the unsuspecting victim touches one of these lines, the waiting spider is alerted and the ambush is set. The spider uses its claws to hold the trap’s underside in place as the doomed prey draws near. When the spider senses the victim is within reach, the trapdoor flies open, the spider springs out and the victim is drawn, struggling, into the subterranean lair where the spider will feed at leisure.
Obviously, if the spider is clearly observed and the true nature of the danger is appreciated, the trap will never work. The trapdoor spider can succeed only to the degree its victims can’t see and don’t know what it’s up to. Consequently, the spider works mostly underground and mostly under cover of darkness. Thus, employing craft and stealth, the lethal work of the trapdoor spider is rarely seen and the trap’s construction and purpose is successfully concealed.
Scientists have long suspected there are many more trapdoor spiders than we know but they remain undetected because of their naturally secretive habits. This, of course, explains why the Aptostichus barackobamai has remained under the scientific radar all these years.
This new species, the largest trapdoor spider ever catalogued, wasn’t uncovered in some remote, inaccessible jungle or desert area. This spider was found right here in the United States, living unobserved among the human population of the American Southwest. The spiders have been laying traps and seizing prey beneath our feet for eons and, due to their craft and stealth, we knew nothing about them.
Some nonscientists have posed this question: Now that the existence of this new species is uncovered, now that we know where they are and what they’re up to, will there be any change in their behavior? So far, there is no official scientific answer. However, my suspicion, based on past behavior of trapdoor spiders is that nothing will change. The Aptostichus barackobamai will continue to lay cleverly concealed trip lines, construct undetected traps, lurk unseen in its subterranean lair and, protected by the dark, it will continue to seize unsuspecting prey as it has for generations.
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not one of those squeamish types that have a natural aversion to spiders. In fact, I admire them for their efficient design, their diversity, their evolutionary staying power. And, to give the devil his due, I’m quite impressed that this particular spider has managed to carry out his activities right under our noses without detection.
Just the same, I’d really rather not have spiders — trapdoor or otherwise — crawling around in my business. I’m a “live-and-let-live” sort of guy. Consequently, it would be unfair to be overly critical of Aptostichus barackobamai. He’s never pretended to be anything but a master of craft and disguise. He really cannot help it that he is designed by nature to live by stealth and ambush.
So what is the most important lesson we can draw from this recent discovery? Obviously, we have underestimated the skill of these trapdoor spiders when it comes to pursuing their goals undetected right under our feet. There’s really no telling what we may learn about them now that we know they’re among us. I’m Hink and I’ll see ya.
MIKE HINKLE is an Edmond resident and retired attorney.
Opinion
Trapdoor spider ‘barackobamai’ survives by stealth, ambush
- Opinion
-
-
I pay property taxes ... please fix my road
Imagine paying thousands of dollars every year in property taxes and at the same time watching your roads literally crumble under the strain of increasing traffic. Unfortunately, some won’t have to imagine this because I’ve just described your reality.
Maybe you have even asked your County Commissioner why property tax money isn’t being used to maintain your road. He probably responded, “Almost all of your property tax money goes to public schools. Only about 15 percent goes to the county and most of that is not for roads.” -
Vision 2020 conference loaded with speakers
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer — playing in the water, grilling, enjoying time with family; maybe preparing for vacation. But for Oklahoma educators, I hope your plans include a trip to Oklahoma City, July 9-11 to attend the State Department of Education’s Vision 2020 professional development conference.
The conference is free to all Oklahoma educators. -
The Oklahoma Standard
The “Oklahoma Standard” was a term coined during our state’s response to the tragedy of April 19, 1995. The connotation has many layers: the standard of trained first responders, the standard of non-trained first responders (neighbors helping neighbors), the standard of our faith community, the standard of welcoming out of state relief workers that arrived to help. In short, meeting the need and answering the call without reservation or inhibition.
-
The Mankato, Minn., Free Press: Stop gridlock on farm bill
The Mankato, Minn., Free Press: Stop gridlock
on farm bill
With a hopeful sound of gridlock cracking, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday that he will vote for the House farm bill even though he has “concerns.” He reasons that “doing nothing means we get no changes in the nutrition programs.”
He may be merely pragmatic but we’ll take it. Rural Republicans are tired of the delays and want the five-year subsidy measure enacted. -
Crazy Kim and the Tippy Twos
Kim Jong Un certainly seems crazy. But sound mind isn’t a requirement for predictable action. Tyrants often mask steady goals with wild behavior. One need only think of world pests like Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein to realize entire regions can be thrust into unwanted global crises.
Like Castro and Saddam, Kim Jong Un has made clear he’s dedicated to expanding his ability to harm America and her allies. The difference is, he has a nuclear capability, not a borrowed or boasted one. North Korea has a proven record of long-range missile development that could ultimately hit the American mainland. -
Don’t blame the President; it’s us
June 17 marks the 41st anniversary of the second Watergate break-in. This is a good time to take a look back and reflect on what can happen when a corrupt administration throws a protective cloak around the misbehavior of a gang of unscrupulous cheats, liars and crooks.
On the morning of June 18, 1972, millions of us were unaware of the festering corruption that would ultimately rot our confidence in the president. We did not know that his administration was using the FBI as a tool to wiretap telephones of reporters regarded as unfriendly to the White House. We were oblivious to the fact the administration encouraged the IRS to audit media representatives whose reporting criticized the president. -
2 bills aid Oklahoma students
I recently attended two ceremonial bill signings at the State Capitol to celebrate legislation I feel is of vital importance to Oklahomans.
-
Time to roll back the Patriot Act
It’s time. It’s time for President Obama to live up to his own words. It’s time for Congress to do its job. It’s time to contract the ever-expanding national security state. And it’s time to roll back the Patriot Act. In Washington, elected officials are circling the wagons. The Obama administration claims that its Internet and telephone surveillance programs are legal; the ones we know about, indeed, are. But just because something is legal and can be done does that mean that it should remain so and continue to be done? No. Laws are made and unmade all the time. And the argument that vast, dragnet-style surveillance has stopped terrorists at the lamentable expense of privacy is exactly the same argument that the Bush administration made about torture: Better to sacrifice our principles and a few people in the hope of saving many.
-
Time to roll back the Patriot Act
It’s time. It’s time for President Obama to live up to his own words. It’s time for Congress to do its job. It’s time to contract the ever-expanding national security state. And it’s time to roll back the Patriot Act.
-
AGAINST THE GRAIN: Oklahoma pushing for international market
British political leader Harold Wilson memorably uttered “export or die” when he headed the Board of Trade in the post-war era. Wilson would go on to serve as prime minister of the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Serving that post, he worked to encourage the development of foreign markets for goods made in the British Isles.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
I pay property taxes ... please fix my road
