Excerpt: Students from St Thomas Primary School discovered the small jumping Lycidas Karschi spider during a Bug Blitz field day in September. Experts have now verified the spider’s identification. “They’re a tiny little jumping spider, about 5 millimetres long,” Bug Blitz program director John Caldow said.
“Children are catching things with nets and bringing them up to me all day and I’m madly photographing things, but it wasn’t until later on that we realised we had discovered something interesting.” Year 5 student Hannah Abdalla said it had been an exciting, hands-on way to learn about science. “We were searching in trees and on the ground and the only thing I found at first was a yellow ladybug, and I was thinking ‘Geez, I hope I find something else’,” she said.
Source: Lazzaro, K., 2017. Scientists verify spider discovered by young citizen scientists not seen before in Victoria. Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 28 Jun 2017. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-29/rare-spider-discovered-by-young-citizen-scientists-verified/866250 [Last accessed 1 August 2017].