Colombo: Six new species of minute goblin spiders discovered in the diminishing forests of Sri Lanka have been named after fictional characters described by famous English children's writer Enid Blyton.

The goblins Bom, Snooky and Tumpy and the brownies Chippy, Snippy and Tiggy made their way from the pages of The Goblins Looking-Glass (1947), Billy's Little Boats (1971) and The Firework Goblins (1971) to the scientific literature in a quest to shed light on the biodiversity of the island country.

As a result of their own adventure, which included sifting through the leaf litter of the local forests, scientists Suresh P. Benjamin and Sasanka Ranasinghe of the National Institute of Fundamental Studies in Sri Lanka, described a total of nine goblin spider species in six genera as new to science.

Two of these genera are reported for the very first time from outside Australia.

With a total of 45 species in 13 genera, the goblin spider fauna in Sri Lanka is already remarkably abundant. Moreover, apart from their diversity, these spiders amaze with their extreme endemism.

While some of the six-eyed goblins can only be found at a few sites, other species can be seen nowhere outside a single forest patch.

In European folklore, goblins and brownies are known as closely related small and often mischievous fairy-like creatures. PTI