this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 139 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The rest of the wikipedia article:

The genus name is derived from Hot Wheels, an American brand of scale model cars. The long coiled embolus of the palpal bulb of this new genus reminded the authors of a looping Hot Wheels track.

The species is named for Sisyphus, a king featured in the Iliad, who is punished by the gods for cheating death. For this, the gods sentenced him to an eternity of rolling a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down. The cyclical nature of his punishment reminded the authors of the circular copulatory tube of the spider.

These dudes are on a whole different level when it comes to naming spiders.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And now I want to know the deep meaning behind all of those Chinese knockoff tee shirts that I thought were just poorly translated.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Believe it or not, they're all about Hot Wheels.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Even the ones about Sisyphus?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

Especially those ones

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The researchers say they derived the name of its genus, hotwheels, directly from the beloved toy due to the structure of the male spiders' reproductive organs. [...] "Because of the lack of nerves in the palpal bulb, the challenges faced by a male spider attempting to copulate can be likened to those of a person attempting to adjust a complex, delicate mechanism in the dark, using an elongate, elaborately formed fingernail"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

If it's that complicated how does the species survive?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

thedrive.com you say huh?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Give it back, OP!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

First draft, I see. Better send it back to him 😁

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

I cannot accept this spider as payment because it only has seven legs.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You know it's kind of funny but at the same time I do think it's somewhat dystopian to see like, a natural phenomenon, right, a creature, and a creature that we need a name for, named after a brand of toys. Whenever I see this stuff it's funny but it's also sad and kind of dystopian, and kind of undignified. It's like, I dunno. Imagine a kid points to a picture of a spider in a little book and asks their parents what the name of the spider is and instead of being like "that's a tarantula" they gotta be like "yeah, that's the hot wheels spider". It's a shitpost, it's funny, it's existentially hilarious, but it's also so fucking depressing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

It's like how all the characters in Idiocracy are named after brands