Queensland Museum is giving you the chance to name a new species of trapdoor spider

It's a new species of spider and it could make you famous - in spider circles that is.

Queensland Museum is giving you the opportunity to name this new species of Eastern Wishbone Spider to celebrate its latest exhibition Spiders - The Exhibition which opens on Friday, December 6.

These stunning trapdoor spiders are endemic to the D'Aguilar Range, and have only ever been found in rainforest habitats in the vicinity of Mount Glorious, north of Brisbane.

Queensland Museum chief executive Dr Jim Thompson said by hosting Spiders - The Exhibition, the museum wanted to give visitors an insight into these magnificent creatures and bust some myths surrounding arachnids.

"Queensland Museum has one of the most active arachnology units in the southern hemisphere and we wanted to take the opportunity while hosting Spiders - The Exhibition, to highlight the outstanding work our arachnologists do in the field of taxonomy," Dr Thompson said.

"This new species of spider will be added to more than 1000 species of spiders the arachnology team at Queensland Museum have described."

Minister for Science Leeanne Enoch said this was a great opportunity to get involved in naming a new species.

"It's wonderful to see Queensland Museum encouraging people to learn more about spiders, and science more generally, through this competition," Ms Enoch said.

"Queensland Museum continues to take the lead in making new discoveries and contributing to our scientific knowledge.

"Queensland has more animal species than anywhere else in Australia and this stunning Mount Glorious Eastern Wishbone Spider will be another species to add to the long list of unique fauna in our state."

The new species of spider, which belongs to the genus Namea, was uncovered by Queensland Museum Principal Curator of Arachnology Dr Michael Rix.

Queensland Museum researchers are using cutting edge genetic techniques and digital imaging methods to better understand the taxonomy of the genus Namea in south-eastern Queensland, which is a hotspot of diversity for these spiders.

Dr Rix said trapdoor spiders of the genus Namea are a diverse group of burrowing spiders found exclusively in Australia's tropical and subtropical eastern rainforests.

"The Mount Glorious Eastern Wishbone Spider is an impressive trapdoor spider, relatively large in size, and like all eastern wishbone spiders of the genus Namea, this species constructs an open entrance hole without a trapdoor, and a Y-shaped underground burrow shaft - hence the common name of 'wishbone' spider," Dr Rix said.

"What's interesting is that one branch of their burrow leads to a concealed second entrance hole, which is used as an emergency escape shaft when danger threatens."

"The spiders sit at the entrances of their burrows at night, waiting for passing prey, which they quickly pounce upon."

The spider takes around five years to mature and females are likely to live for over a decade in the wild.

The competition closes on May 4, 2020.

Scientific naming conventions need to be followed: if it is named after a female person it ends in -ae; if it is named after a male person it should end in an -i; if it is named after multiple males or a male + female it should end in -orum; and if it is named after multiple females it should end in -arum.

Other things to consider: it cannot be rude, obscene or offensive and cannot be named after a corporation. A full list of terms and conditions, and examples of different names, can be found at www.spiders.qm.qld.gov.au

Visit level 3 at Queensland Museum or the website to enter the competition with your name, email and 25 words or less about why the spider should be named after you or your nomination.

Guests can see 200 spider specimens and 12 live species including Sydney Funnel Web, Trapdoor, Huntsman, Redback, and Tarantula spiders.

Some of the highlights of the exhibition include the chance to challenge a colourful peacock spider to a dance-off, the opportunity to 'hold' a virtual wolf spider in your hand, take a peek into the insides of a spider using 3D scanning technology and step into the web of a net-casting spider for a photo.

Spiders - The Exhibition has been developed and toured by the Australian Museum and Questacon - The National Science and Technology Centre.