Woman Makes Plea To Find Perfect Name for Tiny Spider Who Lost 2 Legs
While some spiders may look terrifying due to their eight eyes and eight hairy legs, some can also be very cute, such as those tiny jumping spiders.
TikToker Tiana Gayton has a few of those tiny, jumping spiders, and one special lady lost two legs and now needs a name, as Tiana took to TikTok on October 18.
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Look at those eyes of this puppy spider!
Unfortunately, this cutie pie lost two legs during her molting process, which is a critical part of the growth and development of all spiders.
While molting is generally a controlled and necessary part of a spider's life, things can sometimes go wrong, such as resulting in the loss of legs.
Let's get into the scientific part.
Jumping spiders, like other arachnids, have an exoskeleton, which is a rigid external shell that supports their body and provides protection. As a jumping spider grows, its exoskeleton becomes too tight. To accommodate its increasing size, the spider undergoes a molting process known as ecdysis, where it sheds its old exoskeleton and develops a new one.
It sounds weird, I know! But it's also fascinating!
Molting is a vulnerable and stressful time for spiders, as they are more susceptible to injury during this process.
While they carefully extract themselves from the old exoskeleton and allow the new one to harden, they can sometimes get stuck, or their limbs may not fully detach from the old exoskeleton, leading to leg loss or damage, which happened to this little lady.
However, spiders have the ability to regenerate lost limbs, although the regenerated leg may not be as fully functional or identical to the original.
In the meantime, Tiana is looking to find the perfect name for this six-legged puppy insect, and the majority of the TikTok community suggested naming her "Vi," which also stands for the number six in Roman numerals.
I'd say it's the perfect fit!
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