Márquezov ptičji pajek
Sveta Marta, ptičji pajek, Theraphosidae, nov rod, Kankuamo, Gabriel García Márquez
Kosmata kamuflaža: ptičji pajek s smrtonosno injekcijo.
V gorovju Sierra Nevade na gori Sveta Marta v Naravnem rezervatu Sveti Lorenco v Kolumbiji so entomologi odkrili nenavadnega ptičjega pajka, ki je tako drugačen od sorodnikov, da so ga uvrstili v nov rod - Kankuamo gen. n. (ime se nanaša na avtohtono ljudstvo tega gorovja iz plemena Chibcha; jezik in kultura tega ljudstva je močno ogrožena). Novoodkriti pajek spada v poddružino ptičjih pajkov Theraphosinae. Njegova posebnost je obrambna strategija; svoje zgoščene strupene dlake zabode neposredno v napadalca in vbrizga vanj strup; ostale ptičji pajki pa sprostijo dlačice v zrak in le te se zapičijo v napadalca posredno. Drugačne oz. posebne ima tudi genitalije. Poimenovali so ga v čast kolumbijskemu pisatelju Gabriel García Márquez-u (Nobelovemu nagrajencu za roman "Sto let samote"). Slavni pisatelj (6. 3. 1927, Aracataca, Kolumbija; † 17. april 2014, Ciudad de México, Mehika) velja za enega najpomembnejših pisateljev 20. stoletja in najzaslužnejšega za uveljavitev literarne smeri, imenovane magični realizem. Leta 1982 je za svoje romane in kratke zgodbe prejel Nobelovo nagrado za književnost.
Pajek se torej imenuje po latinsko Kankuamo marquezi, Perafán, Galvis & Gutiérrez, sp. n., 2016.

Foto: Kankuamo marquezi ZooKeys/ Pensoft/ Carlos Perafán/ William Galvis/ Miguel Gutiérrez/ Fernando Perez-Miles

► Ptičji pajki - na svetu več kot tisoč vrst, pri nas jih ni. MMC Živalski otok http://www.rtvslo.si/zivalskiotok/novic ... -ni/396854
► Newly-Discovered Species of Tarantula Named after Gabriel Garcia Marquez. SCI NEWS http://www.sci-news.com/biology/tarantu ... 03988.html
► Perafán et al (2016): Kankuamo, a new theraphosid genus from Colombia (Araneae, Mygalomorphae), with a new type of urticating setae and divergent male genitalia. ZooKeys 601: 89-109 (29 Jun 2026)
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.601.7704 http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=7704

New tarantula named after Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez
https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/new-t ... a-marquez/

Scientists discovered Kankuamo marquezi in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountain range in Colombia.

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/tarantu ... 03988.html

Kankuamo marquezi, female. Image credit: Dirk Weinmann.

>> Perafán et al (2016): Kankuamo, a new theraphosid genus from Colombia (Araneae, Mygalomorphae), with a new type of urticating setae and divergent male genitalia. ZooKeys 601: 89-109 (29 Jun 2026)
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.601.7704 http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=7704

Etymology

Kankuamo is a noun in apposition and refers to the indigenous people of the Chibcha family from the Caribbean region of Colombia, which inhabits the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, whose language and culture are at endangered. Kankuamo gender is neuter.

Only known from its type locality, Vereda San Lorenzo, Corregimiento Minca, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia, 11.1 N, -74.05 W (Fig. 7).

Kankuamo marquezi Perafán, Galvis & Gutiérrez, sp. n.
Etymology
The specific epithet is a noun in genitive in honor to Gabriel García Márquez (Aracataca, Colombia, 1927 - Mexico D.F., Mexico, 2014), who was a renowned Colombian writer, considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, and awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature for “One hundred years of solitude”.

Natural history
Kankuamo marquezi sp. n. inhabits Cuchilla San Lorenzo from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park. Cuchilla San Lorenzo is located in its northwestern flank, in a gradient of altitude from 2000–2300 meters above sea level, in life zone of lower montane wet forest (Espinal and Montenegro 1963). The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range separated from the Andes chain. The locations where the specimens were collected are covered mainly by shrubby plants of the families Arecaceae and Chrysobalanaceae (Cuadrado-Peña 2005), and inhabited by the snakes genus Atractus and frogs of the genera Atelopus, and the endemic species from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Ikakogi tayrona and Geobatrachus walkeri (MG personal observations).