Aptostichus stephencolberti

Taxobox
name = "Aptostichus stephencolberti"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Araneae
subordo = Mygalomorphae
familia = Cyrtaucheniidae
genus = "Aptostichus"
species = "A. stephencolberti"
binomial = "Aptostichus stephencolberti"
binomial_authority = Bond & Stockman 2008cite journal|last=Bond|first=Jason|authorlink=Jason Bond|coauthors=Amy Stockman|title=An Integrative Method for Delimiting Cohesion Species: Finding the Population-Species Interface in a Group of Californian Trapdoor Spiders with Extreme Genetic Divergence and Geographic Structuring|journal=Systematic Biology|volume=57|issue=4|pages=628-646|date=2008-08-01|url=http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/section?content=a901420969&fulltext=713240928|accessdate=2008-08-07]
range_

range_map_width =

"Aptostichus stephencolberti" is a species of trapdoor spider named after the American satirist Stephen Colbert. [cite web|last=Bond|first=Jason|url=http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/biology/name_a_spider.cfm|title=How to Name a Species - Taxonomy and Why it is Important|publisher=East Carolina University|accessdate=2008-08-03] The spider was discovered on the California coastline in 2007. [cite news|last=Melago|first=Carrie|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/08/01/2008-08-01_california_spider_named_for_stephen_colb.html|title=California spider named for Stephen Colbert|publisher="The New York Daily News"|date=2008-08-01|accessdate=2008-08-03]

pider

"Aptostichus stephencolberti" is found on coastal dunes that extend from the Big Sur area to the San Francisco peninsula at Point Lobos and Golden Gate. Compared to closely-related species such as "Aptostichus angelinajoleae" (named after Angelina Jolie), "Aptostichus stephencolberti" is lighter in color. The male holotype and the female paratype both have brownish yellow legs, carapace and chelicerae, while the abdomen is lighter with dusky stripes. The male has six teeth, while the female has five.

Naming

The spider was named after Colbert after he reported on his television series "The Colbert Report" that Jason Bond, a professor of biology at East Carolina University, named a different species of spider "Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi", after the Canadian rock star Neil Young, who is known for his left wing political views. Colbert, who portrays a character who is right wing, was angered by the fact that Bond had not named a spider after him, and began to appeal for a species of animal to be named after him. He claimed that he already had an eagle and a turtle named after him, so there was no reason that another animal could not be named after him as well. [cite episode|title=May 14, 2008: Who's NOT Honoring Me Now|episodelink=List of The Colbert Report episodes (2008)|series=The Colbert Report|serieslink=The Colbert Report|airdate=2008-05-14|season=4|episode=66]

On a later edition of "The Colbert Report", Colbert revealed that Bond would name a spider after him, with Colbert claiming, "And all I had to do was shamelessly beg on national television."cite episode|title=July 29, 2008|episodelink=List of The Colbert Report episodes (2008)|series=The Colbert Report|serieslink=The Colbert Report|airdate=2008-07-29|season=4|episode=97] The two men talked on the telephone to decide which spider should be the one to be so named, but as there were 27 different species of spider available, Bond was left to make the final choice. [cite episode|title=June 24, 2008|episodelink=List of The Colbert Report episodes (2008)|series=The Colbert Report|serieslink=The Colbert Report|airdate=2008-06-24|season=4|episode=84]

The name "Aptostichus stephencolberti" was officially announced as the spider named after Colbert on "The Colbert Report" on August 6, 2008. [cite episode|title=August 6, 2008|episodelink=List of The Colbert Report episodes (2008)|series=The Colbert Report|serieslink=The Colbert Report|airdate=2008-08-06|season=4|episode=101] Because Colbert pronounces his surname with a silent "T", the last "T" in "stephencolberti" is also silent.cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25956273/|title=Trapdoor spider becomes Colbert's namesake|publisher=MSNBC|date=2008-07-31|accessdate=2008-08-03]

References