Two of the newest southern Queenslanders are amongst the smallest, but have interesting stories, and names.

"Working with the goblins was very exciting because of the extraordinary biodiversity of these tiny spiders," Dr Baehr says. (Supplied: Qld Museum)

"The Broadwater Jellybean Goblin Spider is very small," Dr Baehr says of the spider found near Dalby on the Darling Downs. "They're really cute little spiders, not like one of those big hairy ones you'd be scared of! The males have a little feature in front of their mouth that looks like a jellybean. So we called it 'jellybean' as a common name. It's one of 71 new species we found. It was only found near Lake Broadwater. We needed to have pitfall traps out there, otherwise you would not find it. It's only 1.5mm long." (Supplied: Qld Museum)

Dr Barbara Baehr from the Queensland Museum discovered Leichhardteus badius, or reddish brown swift spider, in the Bunya Mountains. "The swift spider looks a bit like an ant," Dr Baehr says. "It's about the size of an ant, runs like an ant, and lives with the ants. But it lives on the ants. It's a ground spider. It's common in the rainforest." Dr Baehr says the 'brown' was chosen to honour former Greens senator Bob Brown, who rescued rainforest environments. "They're good creatures to work with. They are not dangerous to us, but we need them to keep a safe and healthy environment." (Supplied: Qld Museum)

Dr Barbara Baehr has discovered more than 600 species of spider, and says the Australian environment is a wonderful place for researchers.

"We have such an incredible biodiversity. We didn't have the ice ages like in Europe, where they get wiped out. That's the wonderful thing about Australia, it's like a paradise when you work here."

She says while many of the spiders she has identified are from the Museum's collection, she enjoys looking for spiders in the wild. "It's amazing to go out and look for yourself. The environment is so wonderful."

Baehr says there are still spiders waiting to be discovered. And young Australians should give it a go.

"There are lots of boys and girls that love to be in the bush and have a look around. It's good for them to do that, not just sitting in front of the computer all the time."