--- description: A new species of tarantula discovered near Folsom State Prison in California has fittingly been named for the country singer Johnny Cash. title: New Tarantula Species Named After Johnny Cash image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New Tarantula Species Named After Johnny Cash by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 5, 2016 5:44 AM CUT by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 5, 2016 5:44 AM CUT A new species of tarantula discovered near Folsom State Prison in California has fittingly been [named](http://news.sky.com/story/1636290/tarantula-species-named-after-johnny-cash "undefined") for the country singer Johnny Cash, who memorialized the jail in his 1955 song “Folsom Prison Blues.” The spider, _Aphonopelma johnnycashi,_ is among 14 new tarantulas discovered in the U.S. during a search that spanned a decade, SkyNews reports. “We often hear about how new species are being discovered from remote corners of the Earth, but what is remarkable is that these spiders are in our own backyard,” Dr. Chris Hamilton, the scientist who named the spider, told SkyNews. Though the arachnid’s bite is venomous, Hamilton described it as a “teddy bear with eight legs.” \[[SkyNews](http://news.sky.com/story/1636290/tarantula-species-named-after-johnny-cash "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4208966/tarantula-johnny-cash-spider-california/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4208966/tarantula-johnny-cash-spider-california/"},"headline":"New Tarantula Species Named After Johnny Cash","datePublished":"2016-02-05T05:44:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:47:39.933Z","description":"The spider was discovered near Folsom State Prison in California","url":"https://time.com/4208966/tarantula-johnny-cash-spider-california/","keywords":["animals","California","spiders"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4208966/tarantula-johnny-cash-spider-california/","name":"New Tarantula Species Named After Johnny Cash"}}]}] ```