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While giving a tour in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Alex Bently identified a clump on a leaf as a dead spider parasitized by a Cordyceps fungus. When it moved under his touch, he realized that it was actually a unique case of mimicry, and worked with David Ricardo Díaz Guevara and Nadine Dupérré to describe it as a new species. In this episode, Alex shares the unique nature of this spider, as well as what we can learn from it about the complex relationships that can occur between fungi and other organisms.
Alex Bently’s paper “The Cordyceps spider”: Taczanowskia waska sp. nov. (Araneae: Araneidae), a new spider species and a novel case of mimicry of an araneopathogenic fungus (Cordycipitaceae: Gibellula)” is in volume 5760 of Zootaxa.
It can be found here: www.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5760.5.4
Photo Credit: David Ricardo Díaz Guevara
Listen to an interview with Alex’s coauthor David in spanish on New Species Español - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1YZuyGcLva6hK752ueXOtZ?si=6qj-Ru2hTwSpMnVLsTpGwA
A transcript of this episode can be found here: Alex Bently - Transcript
New Species: Taczanowskia waska
Follow Waska Amazonia on instagram: @ waska.amazonia
And on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaskaAmazonia
Some neat press coverage of this new species:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/spider-mimicing-cordyceps-9.7141687
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/science/spider-cordyceps-fungus-zombies.html
Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and “like” the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).
Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at [email protected]
If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
If you would like to make a one-time contribution to this podcast, you can do so at https://buymeacoffee.com/newspeciespod
By New Species Podcast4.5
1515 ratings
While giving a tour in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Alex Bently identified a clump on a leaf as a dead spider parasitized by a Cordyceps fungus. When it moved under his touch, he realized that it was actually a unique case of mimicry, and worked with David Ricardo Díaz Guevara and Nadine Dupérré to describe it as a new species. In this episode, Alex shares the unique nature of this spider, as well as what we can learn from it about the complex relationships that can occur between fungi and other organisms.
Alex Bently’s paper “The Cordyceps spider”: Taczanowskia waska sp. nov. (Araneae: Araneidae), a new spider species and a novel case of mimicry of an araneopathogenic fungus (Cordycipitaceae: Gibellula)” is in volume 5760 of Zootaxa.
It can be found here: www.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5760.5.4
Photo Credit: David Ricardo Díaz Guevara
Listen to an interview with Alex’s coauthor David in spanish on New Species Español - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1YZuyGcLva6hK752ueXOtZ?si=6qj-Ru2hTwSpMnVLsTpGwA
A transcript of this episode can be found here: Alex Bently - Transcript
New Species: Taczanowskia waska
Follow Waska Amazonia on instagram: @ waska.amazonia
And on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaskaAmazonia
Some neat press coverage of this new species:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/spider-mimicing-cordyceps-9.7141687
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/science/spider-cordyceps-fungus-zombies.html
Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and “like” the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).
Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at [email protected]
If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
If you would like to make a one-time contribution to this podcast, you can do so at https://buymeacoffee.com/newspeciespod

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