A researcher at a university in Chongqing published the first illustrated handbook on China's spider species.
The illustrated encyclopedia, Chinese Spiders Illustrated, is the work Zhang Dongsheng, a research fellow at Southwest University who for the past decade has traveled the country in search of all things eight-legged.
If this sounds like a scary endeavor, Zhang begs to differ - despite a few bites over the years.
"They are extremely beautiful," explained Zhang. "Actually they are not as horrible as some people imagine.
Weighing in at 4.3 kilograms, the book covers China's 1,139 known species - making it the world's first. The tome is also heavy on illustrations, including more than 2,300 photos and over 130 micrographs.
Zhang's team spent a year observing and researching the Chinese hourglass spider, one of the world's oldest arachnids. "You have to be patient when doing research," said Zhang.
