And along came a celebrity spider: Bono honoured with species

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, UNITED STATES // It appeared Bono and arachnids did not mix when his Spider-Man musical had a rough Broadway run, but that did not keep a biologist from naming an actual spider species after the U2 singer.

Jason Bond of Alabama's Auburn University has identified 33 new species of trapdoor spider, including three of them in the California desert at Joshua Tree National Park. The park's namesake is featured in the title and cover of U2's 1987 album, The Joshua Tree.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that Mr Bond named two of the spiders after Indian tribes and one, A bonoi, after Bono.

Mr Bond has named other spider species after Angelina Jolie, Cesar Chavez and Stephen Colbert.

The trapdoor spider, found in the south-western US, is so-named because it makes a hatch to hide from prey.