New spider species named after Enid Blyton characters

COLOMBO: Six new species of minute goblin spiders discovered in the forests of Sri Lanka have been named after fictional characters described by English children’s writer Enid Blyton.

The goblins Bom, Snooky and Tumpy and the brownies Chippy, Snippy and Tiggy made their way from the pages of ‘The Goblins Looking-Glass’ (1947), ‘Billy’s Little Boats’ (1971) and ‘The Firework Goblins’ (1971) to the scientific literature in a quest to shed light on the country’s biodiversity.

Scientists Suresh P Benjamin and Sasanka Ranasinghe of the National Institute of Fundamental Studies in Sri Lanka described a total of nine goblin spider species in six genera as new.

With 45 species in 13 genera, the goblin spider fauna in Sri Lanka is already abundant and amaze with their extreme endemism. While some of the six-eyed goblins, descried in ‘Evolutionary Systematics’, can only be found at a few sites, other species cannot be seen outside a single forest patch.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/new-spider-species-named-after-enid-blyton-characters/articleshow/64707395.cms