Professor Andy Austin was interviewed by Amanda Vanstone on the ABC RN show “Counterpoint”, as a result of the recent press coverage which featured in USA Today, which has a daily readership of 7 million.
Prof Austin spoke about his recent PLoS One, led by PhD candidate Sophie Harrison which challenges the previous theory the spiders arrived in Australia.
Genetic analysis shows the species converged only 2-16 million years ago, this paper proposes trapdoor spiders may have rafted across the Indian ocean in their silk sealed, climate controlled homes on or in debris washed out of African rivers to Australia.
Listen to the whole interview here, and read the media release.
