Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Is This New Spider Species Psychedelic? Why Scientists Named It After Pink Floyd.

This little guy would love Comfortably Numb.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

In Tolima, Colombia, a spider the size of a fingernail has been living on building walls, eating disease-carrying insects, and minding its own business for years without a name. Scientists remedied that recently, and they went with Pikelinia floydmuraria. Yep, after Pink Floyd.

The name is a two-for-one. “Floyd” honors the band, while “muraria” comes from the Latin word for wall—a nod to both the spider’s habitat and the 1979 album The Wall. The researchers even titled their paper, published in Zoosystematics and Evolution, “Another Web in the Wall.” See? Academics can be funny when they want to be.

Beyond the naming, the spider is worth paying attention to. P. floydmuraria measures 3 to 4 millimeters long, which makes it roughly the size of a sesame seed, and has been observed taking down prey up to six times its own body size. Its diet runs heavy on flies, ants, and beetles, including mosquitoes and houseflies—the exact insects that make city life miserable. They have a good strategy, too. These spiders build their webs near artificial lights, exploiting the tendency of flying insects to cluster around them, essentially turning streetlights into a buffet delivery system. Researchers recorded densities of 20 to 30 individuals per square meter in some areas. Most people walk right past them.

Someone Tell the band About the Pink Floyd Spider

The study also pulled back the curtain on how little science actually knows about this group. P. floydmuraria is only the second species of its genus ever recorded in Colombia, and three additional unidentified populations turned up in other Colombian departments during the research. Only 20 species of this spider group are currently recognized across all of South America—meaning the actual number is almost certainly higher, and researchers are barely scratching the surface.

There’s also a strange geographic subplot buried in the paper. A closely related species, Pikelinia fasciata, lives exclusively in the Galápagos Islands, over a thousand miles away across the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. The two species look nearly identical. Whether that’s shared ancestry or parallel evolution, researchers say, is still an open question that DNA analysis will eventually need to answer.

P. floydmuraria has a name, a paper, and a legacy that most spiders will never come close to. Roger Waters could not be reached for comment.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Photo: Geraint Rowland Photography / Getty Images Is This New Spider Species Psychedelic? Why Scientists Named It After Pink Floyd. 14 minutes ago By Ashley Fike

Is This New Spider Species Psychedelic? Why Scientists Named It After Pink Floyd.

Photo: sutthirat sutthisumdang / Getty Images 4 Tips for Navigating the Chaotic Energy of the Mars-Saturn Conjunction 44 minutes ago By Sammi Caramela

4 Tips for Navigating the Chaotic Energy of the Mars-Saturn Conjunction

Photo: golubovy / Getty Images These 5 Zodiac Signs Are the Most Help in a Crisis 1 hour ago By Ashley Fike

These 5 Zodiac Signs Are the Most Help in a Crisis

Photo: Francesco Carta fotografo / Getty Images ‘Junk Food’ Is Killing Your Attention Span (But It’s Not Too Late to Fix It) 2 hours ago By Luis Prada

‘Junk Food’ Is Killing Your Attention Span (But It’s Not Too Late to Fix It)

Photo: fedrelena / Getty Images My OCD Treatment Is Absolutely Brutal, But It Does Help 2 hours ago By Sammi Caramela

My OCD Treatment Is Absolutely Brutal, But It Does Help

Photo: Elena Shcherbak / Getty Images What Your Palm’s Love Line Says About You (and How to Read It) 3 hours ago By Ashley Fike

What Your Palm’s Love Line Says About You (and How to Read It)

Photo: mikolajn / Getty Images Hurricane Season Is Going to Look a Little Different This Year, Scientists Say 3 hours ago By Luis Prada

Hurricane Season Is Going to Look a Little Different This Year, Scientists Say

Photo: 13threephotography / Getty Images Not All Tough Love Is Healthy. How to Know When It’s Actually Emotional Abuse. 4 hours ago By Sammi Caramela

Not All Tough Love Is Healthy. How to Know When It’s Actually Emotional Abuse.

Photo: Catherine Ledner / Getty Images It’s Never Been More Expensive to Be a Pet Parent. Here’s Exactly How Much. 4 hours ago By Ashley Fike

It’s Never Been More Expensive to Be a Pet Parent. Here’s Exactly How Much.

WWE How to Watch WWE’s Wrestlemania 42: The Ultimate Guide 6 hours ago By Haley Miller

How to Watch WWE’s Wrestlemania 42: The Ultimate Guide

Kill the ads for just $2 a month

VICE membership also gives you access to our very best writing and exclusive new documentaries.

Add your account details

© Vice