A new eyeless spider just dropped, and it’s aptly named after Monster Hunter

Those who fit the Venn diagram of “Spider lover” and “Monster Hunter lover” will be very excited to hear about the newly discovered Otacilia khezu.

If there’s one thing scientists who study animals are good at, it’s that they’re nerdy. Seriously, there’s an entire page on Wikipedia dedicated to creatures named after works of fiction, including a section dedicated to creatures named after games (like Dicranocentrus pikachu). As one user on the Monster Hunter subreddit discovered, a brand new eyeless spider has just been discovered in China, and it’s named after a monster from the classic Capcom series. Otacilia khezu, whose details can be seen here (arachnophobia warning if you click through), is named after Monster Hunter’s Khezu, a flying dragon whose eyes have been so greatly retracted that it looks like it has no eyes at all.

You can easily see where this new spider got its name from, and the datalog linked above isn’t shy about noting its Monster Hunter origins (the Otacilia part is just the genus of arachnids, that is, that part is for all you smart people who know the fancy Latin stuff). Someone on Twitter also noted that the same person who named this spider has given this name to other creatures before, including a couple Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure references (Funny Valentine and Gryo Zeppeli), as well as another Monster Hunter reference, to the genus “Rathalos,” another classic monster from the series.

While it’s not quite the same as a new monster reveal, Capcom hasn’t been shy about showing off the latest entry in the Monster Hunter Wildlands series. The upcoming game was unveiled at the Summer Game Fest earlier this month, with the promise of a playable demo coming later. Additionally, our own Alex got to go hands-on with the game and came away impressed.