Finding a new species isn’t a new thing, but uncovering 14 new animals is something to be proud of. A three-member team led by Chris Hamilton conducted a years-long survey and found 14 new species of US tarantula.

Hamilton of the Florida Museum of Natural History said the team spent over 10 years in travelling across the US to find new species of the spider. It wasn’t easy to travel thousands of miles and spend many hours in fieldwork on deserts and mountains, said Hamilton.

During the survey, the team found a tarantula which was later named after renowned singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. One of the discovered species, Aphonopelma johnnycashi, was also named for the country musician.

The Goliath birdeater, a spider from the tarantula family Theraphosidae, has been considered as the biggest spider in the world. “For such a popular organism in our culture, whether it’s Hollywood movies or B movies, there’s not really much work that’s been done on tarantulas. Past arachnologists would get really frustrated and give up”, said Hamilton.

Hamilton and the team published their 340-page analysis in the journal Zookeys. Finding a new species in always interesting, and finding something more than that is a dream come true, said Brent Hendrixson, a researcher from Millsaps College in Mississippi and co-author of the survey.

Paula Cushing, an expert from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, praised the study and its researchers. Cushing, who wasn’t part of the survey, said such contribution to arachnology is appreciation. Aphonopelma tarantulas are not common, but experts like Cushing think it is difficult to identify individual species.

For the survey, Hamilton and other researchers in his team pieced together information on more than 3,000 specimens.