Maybe you didn’t know, but the Tarantole are known, as well as for their poison, also for the size of their male genitals. They are called Pedipalpi, they also have predatory functions, but they mainly serve reproduction: on average, in the Tarantole, they are 1.5 to 2 times the sum of the head length and chest long.
Now, however, the discovery of five new species has “forced” a group of researchers from the University of Turku, in Finland, to create a new genre, differentiated from those existing due to the extremely disproportionate genitals present in males. The genre is called Satyrex and is described in a study published on Zookeys.
The king of satirians. The study, in reality, does not tell a “discovery”, in the sense that at least one of the new Tarantole was already known to science, and had been classified under the species Monocentropus Longiumanus. Which has now been reclassified, together with four new species determined on the basis of morphological and molecular analysis: scientists, for reasons that we now explain to you, have had to create an entire new genre in which to insert them. Satyrexin fact, a crashes of “Satyr” (satyr in Roman mythology was often represented with huge genitalia) and “rex” (in the proper sense of “king”). In short, a name that celebrates its equipment.
Where to find them. And in fact, the four new species of Satyrexwho live between the Arabian peninsula and the horn of Africa, have record genitals: “They have long” four times the sum of the head and chest, and half of their longer legs.
If you want to do a quick account, the biggest of the four species, Satyrex Feroxreaches 15 centimeters in length, and its pedapalps reach 5 centimeters. The same goes for the “original” species, Satyrex Longimanus: It was his own genitals disproportionate to convince the team that conducted the study.
Safe sex. But what is the use of having so long? We do not yet have a definitive response, but there is a very strong hypothesis carried out by the authors of the study, and also a lot brutal: the length of the genitals of these Tarantole is a weapon of defense against females. Which, after sex, have this unpleasant habit of attacking the partner and eating it: having long pedipalps could therefore be a way to keep the females at a distance and avoid becoming a meal.
Noisy. Perhaps this will be why the specimens of the genre Satyrex They are tending to be very cautious, even when it’s not about sex.
Those who have studied them say that a minimum disorder is enough and these Tarantole lift their rear legs and produce a very strong hiss, obtained by rubbing the hair specialized in the production of noise. On the other hand, when your wife could also devour you at any moment it is normal to become very protective …
