Newly Discovered Laos Spider Named After Dominic Monaghan

A newly discovered spider, Ctenus monaghani, has been named after actor Dominic Monaghan (Lost, The Lord of the Rings). The spider was discovered in Laos by Dr. Peter Jager, a spider expert at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany.

The spider crawled across Jager's path during filming of Dominic Monaghan's nature documentary series, Wild Things. Dr. Jager appeared on an episode of the show with Monaghan as an expert consultant to the team in the forests and caves of Laos.

The newly discovered spider belongs to the Ctenus genus. These spiders are known as wandering spiders. They roam along the jungle floor at night and catch their prey without a web.

The new spider is described in the journal, Zootaxa.

Photos: Peter Jager/Senckenberg

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