# RIP Number 16. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469 "2018-05-02T16:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/1 "2018-05-02T16:59:41Z")
[An Australian trap door spider has died](https://www.livescience.com/62452-worlds-oldest-spider-dies.html). She was the world’s oldest known spider at 43. Which is 301 in dog years. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/2 "2018-05-02T17:11:49Z")
Farewell, Number 16, Queen of Arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won’t forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the web-spun places of your sandy home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish, and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/3 "2018-05-02T17:38:41Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [An Australian trap door spider has died](https://www.livescience.com/62452-worlds-oldest-spider-dies.html). She was the world’s oldest known spider at 43. Which is 301 in dog years. I read that and assumed the spider had been in captivity, a lab or zoo somewhere. How else would they be able to know it was the same spider from year to year? Apparently not; the article says trapdoor spiders (the females, at least) build one burrow and stay in it for life. She was part of a study, and had been observed since 1974, but was in the wild. That’s fascinating. Vaya con Dios, number 16. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/4 "2018-05-02T17:46:17Z")
She was the second cousin, one removed, of a certain radioactive spider that bit me. Miss ya, Joan. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/5 "2018-05-02T19:22:13Z")
She lived in a tunnel with a door. Spiders have low metabolic rates so they don’t need to be constantly eating and with their exoskeletons look the same alive and dead. So, how could they know she was dead? Did a lady from her church get worried and ask the cops to make a wellness check? ETA: Yes, I read the article, but facts should never stand in the way of a joke. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/6 "2018-05-02T19:39:37Z")
A spider older than The Web…only in Australia! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/7 "2018-05-02T20:08:33Z")
Oh, damn, number 16 inspected my boxer briefs! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/8 "2018-05-02T20:11:57Z")
Do they feel extra silky? ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/9 "2018-05-03T06:16:11Z")
And she might have lived longer if she hadn’t met with the earthly equivalent of the xenomorph… ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/10 "2018-05-03T09:56:17Z")
> [@](#): > > A typical trapdoor spider burrow is topped by a lid, here propped open. In Number 16’s burrow, the lid was punctured, likely by the stinger of a parasitoid wasp. She was murdered! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/11 "2018-05-03T10:09:19Z")
Of course there isn’t a factual answer, but what would a conservative estimate of her descendants be? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Billions? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/12 "2018-05-03T11:32:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Of course there isn’t a factual answer, but what would a conservative estimate of her descendants be? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Billions? If animal populations grew exponentially, the whole world would be made of that kind of animal. Animal populations tend to be [more or less](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_cycle) [stable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotka%E2%80%93Volterra_equations) averaged over the long-term in stablish ecosystems. So a more realistic number is for a pair of spiders to have a pair of surviving offspring. More than that on average and the population would be growing, fewer than that and the population would be shrinking. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/13 "2018-05-03T13:37:40Z")
With Shelob’s death and the departure of the Elves to the West, the Age of Spiders was over. The descendants of this once fearsome species dwindled, both in size and terror, and now cower for their entire life times in burrows which a hobbit would despise. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/14 "2018-05-03T13:52:03Z")
\*\*RIP Number 16. \*\* “I am not a Number! I am a Free Spider!” “Ha ha ha ha hahahahaha” You can imprison a spider’s body, but in its mind, its webs spin free. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/15 "2018-05-03T14:17:11Z")
[A long story on spidey](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/05/01/the-extraordinary-life-and-death-of-the-worlds-oldest-known-spider/?utm_term=.2b7bfc9a7018). ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/16 "2018-05-06T04:53:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \*\*RIP Number 16. > \*\* > > “I am not a Number! I am a Free Spider!” > > “Ha ha ha ha hahahahaha” > > You can imprison a spider’s body, but in its mind, its webs spin free. This is what I thought of when I saw the headline. Like, someone who played a random but somewhat important member of the Village died? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/17 "2018-05-06T04:56:59Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > This is what I thought of when I saw the headline. Like, someone who played a random but somewhat important member of the Village died? (checking off another of the SDMB’s prerequisites) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/18 "2018-05-06T13:48:09Z")
So, how does one know if the spider squashed in the bathroom last night wasn’t 44 years old? Huh? Answer me that! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-number-16/813469/19 "2018-05-06T17:11:06Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Of course there isn’t a factual answer, but what would a conservative estimate of her descendants be? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Billions? The family requests that flies be sent in lieu of flowers.