Imagine a world where a spider is named after John Lennon—because now there is.

Though not particularly large—its body is about 1.3 inches (34 millimeters) wide—the newfound arachnid belongs to the same family as the dinner-plate-size Theraphosa blondi, the world's largest spider.

Called the goliath birdeater, that spider can reach lengths of a foot (0.3 meter) and weigh six ounces (170 grams). (Related: "Puppy-Size Tarantula Found: Explaining World's Biggest Spider.")

"I have been waiting for a while to dedicate a species to Lennon because I am a fan of the Beatles," study leader Fernando Pérez-Miles, an entomologist at Uruguay's University of the Republic, wrote in an email. "I decided not to wait anymore."

Pérez-Miles and colleagues found B. lennoni in 2005 in