Habronestes boq, the spider named by the Bank of Queensland

Credit: Queensland Museum

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SYDNEY, 1 August 2006 - For those that have everything, a museum in Australia is offering a gift with a difference: the chance to name a spider after someone you love.

With only a limited number of new spiders available, the Queensland Museum is hoping the bids will be high for the honour of bestowing a name upon a novel arachnid.

If you are a bloke, add an -i, -ii, or -iae to your name. If you are a girl, then add -ae, or -iae. You get to choose which spider you like the most.

Spider-namers, the museum says, will make history, forever recorded into textbooks and displayed at natural history museums. To authenticate the name, the Queensland Museum Foundation will give you a certificate that has your name and a detailed description of the spider.

The naming process will take 4 weeks to authenticate and up to a year to record in the World Database of Spiders.

The quirky gift idea was conceived as a way to raise money for Queensland biodiversity research.

Anne Jones, Chair of the Board of the Queensland Museum said "A campaign donation will help scientists to continue their extensive research into Queensland's remarkable biodiversity and provide an enduring legacy for the people of this state."

Some of the research money will go to furthering public understanding of the spider bites, creating biomedical materials, and adding to more basic applications of material science and engineering.

The Bank of Queensland was the first to sign up for a spider name. A new species of ant spider, Habronestes boq has been named after the bank.

David Liddy, managing director at the bank said he is very happy to be cosying up with a spider, "In line with Bank of Queensland's strategy to 'be different', I'm delighted to be at the forefront of this genuinely innovative concept."