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MELBOURNE: Fourth India-Australia 2+2 Secretary-level Consultations - November 3, 2024
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TORONTO: India’s response to diplomatic communication from Canada - November 2, 2024
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NGERULMUD: Shri Harsh Kumar Jain concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Palau - November 1, 2024
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DHAKA: Statement on attack on Puja Mandap and desecration and damage to Hindu temples in Bangladesh - October 31, 2024
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KINGSTON: Shri Subhash Prasad Gupta concurrently accredited as the next High Commissioner of India to St.Vincent and the Grenadines - October 30, 2024
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STOCKHOLM: Dr. Neena Malhotra appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Sweden - October 29, 2024
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BEIRUT: Statement on recent developments in southern Lebanon - October 29, 2024
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BANGKOK: Meeting of Prime Minister with Prime Minister of Thailand - October 28, 2024
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NEW YORK: H1B Visa “Thing Of Past”: Union Minister Piyush Goyal After US Visit - October 28, 2024
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MOSCOW: Prime Minister meets with the President of the Russian Federation - October 27, 2024
BERN: Scientists Say 50,000 Spider Species Have Now Been Discovered
BERN: How many spiders can you name? I got to about 15 before I ran out, just a little shy of the full variety that are now on record. On Wednesday, the Natural History Museum of Bern in Switzerland announced that 50,000 species of spiders have been discovered and listed in the museum’s World Spider Catalog.
Spider #50,000 is Guriurius minuano, a jumping spider from South America. Jumping spiders are charismatic creatures that are about as cuddly looking as spiders can get. A team of researchers described Guriurius minuano in a study published in Zootaxa last month.
We know about a lot of spiders, but there are likely an equal number of unknown ones running, crawling, jumping and climbing around the world. “We estimate that there are still approximately 50,000 more spider species out there to discover,” said the World Spider Catalog publishers.
The museum traces the first scientifically described spider to 1757. It may have taken 265 years to get this far, but new species are turning up at a fast clip. The museum thinks it will only take about 100 years to sort out the as-yet-unknown spiders of the world.
A lot of humans are uncomfortable with or downright afraid of spiders, but spiders are bros. They’re great at pest control. The museum calls them “the most important predators in Earth’s terrestrial habitats” and “the most important regulators of insect populations.” Here’s to another 50,000 spider species.