On any given day, you could accidentally stumble into any one of almost 50,000 species of spider.
And while most of them are tiny little creeps who won't do much more than give you a slight
scare and a face full of web, there are a few spiders so big and buff that they'll probably
ruin your whole week.
Here are the top ten largest spiders in the world today.
Not all spiders are created equal, even within the Golden Silk Orb Weaver family.
Our horrifying tale of web-spinning weirdos begins with the Nephila komaci.
Females of this species have a leg span of up to 5 inches, or roughly the diameter of
a chocolate chip cookie that you'd never, ever want to touch again.
The first live, supersized Golden Silk Orb Weaver wasn't officially discovered until
2007, despite unidentified specimens showing up in museum collections since the year 2000.
In addition to being among the top ten biggest spiders alive today, it's also one of the
rarest spiders in the world, and might already be critically endangered.
Only three live specimens have ever been found in a single forest in Tembe Elephant Park
in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and those spiders were found in' 3-foot-wide webs.
Rest easy, though — this is the largest known spider that actually spins a web.
The rest just conspire under your bed with the monsters, waiting for you.
Why the name komaci?
The spider was named after the dear, departed best friend of the arachnologist who found
the spider.
So if you ever want something terrifying to be named after you, go make friends with a
spider scientist.
If you like your spiders rare, another critically endangered species is the Desertas wolf spider,
discovered in 1857, which lives on the volcanic Deserta Grande Island in Portugal's Madeira
archipelago.
It has a leg span of 5 inches... or about the size of a personal chicken pot pie.
Its latin name, Hogna ingens, literally means 'monstrous'... and they only get bigger from
here.
It's estimated that there are probably around 4,000 Desertas wolf spiders left in the wild,
with at least a thousand being bred in captivity at the Bristol Zoo to bring their numbers
back up, because there are people out there who actually want more spiders around.
And while the spider is big enough to capture and devour small lizards, and afflict humans
with a venomous bite, the species is most threatened by a seemingly innocuous enemy
: invasive bulbous canary grass, which is destroying the balance of its small environment.
One surprising thing about these super-giant spiders is that many were uncategorized by
science before the turn of the century.
Even today, there could be an undiscovered species of spider the size of an LP in right
your backyard, and science doesn't even know.
Which brings us to the case of the Cerbalus aravensis, an enormous spider with a 5.5-inch
leg span, or roughly the diameter of a corn tortilla.
Cerbalus aravensis was first observed in 2007 on the Israel-Jordan border, making it the
second worst thing to make headlines that year.
"Okay, that one hurt."
Because of its rarity and very small range, not too much is known about the spider; it's
nocturnal, lives underground at the edges of salt marshes, and preys on insects and
lizards using a devious trapdoor into its den.
It's also most active during the summer.
Its one and only habitat is also being destroyed by mining projects, so look out: Cerbalus
aravensis might be looking to relocate.
The giant camel spider may be an arachnid, but it's not a true spider.
Still, it's horrifying enough to appear in this list, and they look like spiders, they
behave like spiders, and they use digestive fluids to liquefy the flesh of whatever or
whoever they want to eat, so at this point, who cares if they're technically a spider
or not?
Despite the name and many myths that surround them, camel spiders do not leap into the air
and disembowcel camels for food.
They actually eat bugs and rodents, so they're excellent pest control.
They don't run at 25 miles an hour, but they can reach 10 miles per hour, which unfortunately
is almost as fast as the average human runner.
They won't chase you, but they are known to chase your shadow in order to stay cool.
They do not scream, but they can squeak, and they're not venomous.
They do pack a powerful defensive bite, and their 6-inch leg-span is scary to look at
regardless.
Unless you're in the Middle East, you don't have much to worry about when it comes to
giant camel spiders.
But you might want to worry about the seven even larger spiders on this list.
“Watch out, it's on your arm!"
"It's very fast!"
In spite of the many myths surrounding spiders, that story about the UK family who found a
giant spider in their bananas was not just an urban legend.
What the family found was a Brazilian wandering spider, not only one of the world's largest
spiders, but also one of the most venomous, capable of delivering a painful bite that
can paralyze small prey.
Most of these spiders don't inject enough venom into humans to require treatment, but
look out: its genus name, Phoneutria, means "murderess" in Greek.
As of 2008, there were only ten recorded deaths in Brazil attributed to this spider.
Bite symptoms include a burning sensation, vertigo, convulsions, and in some cases, a
specific reaction in males...
… thanks to a nitric oxide boost in the blood.
The Brazilian wandering spider has a 6-inch leg span, or just smaller than the average
adult human hand, not that you'd want to make the comparison close-up.
Add the fact that they're nocturnal and actively hunt prey, unlike their lazy web-spinning
counterparts, and you have a potentially scary spider.
If you've ever dreamed of keeping a gigantic, hairy spider as a pet, you can pick up a Colombian
giant redleg online and have it shipped overnight to your home, with a guaranteed live arrival,
though the species would probably feel more at home in its native tropical rain forests
of Colombia and Brazil.
The Colombian giant redleg will eat almost anything smaller than itself, and that includes
mice.
It also has a unique way of defending itself against any mice who think they might stand
a chance : the cartwheel of death, a little confusing dance that flings irritating barbed
hairs at its victims.
Which, believe it or not, isn't even the most irritating kind of Spider-dance.
It has a leg span of up to 8 inches, which is roughly the size of your face.
Fortunately, they're known to be pretty skittish, so they'd much rather just stay out of your
way.
Another species unknown to science until recently is the Poecilotheria rajaei, which wasn't
identified until locals in Sri Lanka gave a dead sample to a scientist in 2009.
These spiders are known to hide in and under things: wood piles, rocks, and during monsoon
season when they find their way indoors, your bed.
Poecilotheria rajaei has a leg span of around 8 inches, which is about the size of a really
terrible birthday cake.
A bite from these spiders probably won't be deadly, but it can cause severe muscle cramps,
local swelling, and of course, varying degrees of agony.
Scientists say that this spider prefers to live in old-growth trees, but deforestation
is driving them into buildings instead, so if there was ever an argument to leave nature
alone, this is it.
In fact, many of the first specimens were discovered living in a Sri Lankan hospital,
which must have been very comforting.
Let's be clear about this one: the Hercules baboon spider might not even exist anymore,
so if there are any, it's probably the rarest spider in the world.
No one has actually seen a genuine Hercules baboon spider since 1900, and only one specimen
was ever collected.
And while pet stores often claim to be selling "Hercules baboon spiders," don't believe them;
it's probably the species' smaller, no-less-ridiculously-named cousin, the king baboon spider.
Like the last few spiders, the Hercules baboon spider has an 8-inch leg span, but not much
else can be gleaned from that one specimen found more than 100 years ago.
While the Hercules baboon spider might be extinct, it'll be a while before anyone knows
for sure, since it's native to Nigeria and its territory is politically unstable, making
spider-hunting extremely difficult.
Any spider called a "birdeater" is already sufficiently terrifying, but the Brazilian
salmon pink birdeater isn't even the biggest spider in the world.
It's up there, however, with a 10-inch leg span that makes it about the same size as
one of those giant burgers you get to have for free if you can eat the whole thing without
vomiting.
And there's also no evidence that they actually eat birds on a regular basis, instead focusing
on frogs, lizards, mice, snakes, and anything smaller than itself.
The 'salmon pink' name is because, like so many Hot Topic employees, they're covered
with pink hair.
If you're dying to see a spider the size of a medically dangerous amount of meat to consume,
you're in luck; you can find them at many zoos and pet shops.
Or you can just visit one of your weird friends who keeps spiders in their homes on purpose;
they make good pets, live up to 12 years and lay up to 2000 eggs at once, in case you want
to start your own tarantula farm or haunted house.
In case the salmon pink birdeater wasn't quite big enough for you, another option is the
Goliath birdeater, which is not the largest spider by its 11-inch leg span, but is thought
to be the largest spider by weight: up to 6 ounces, or the weight of a decent filet
mignon.
Coincidentally, it may also BE one of the world's most delicious spiders; the indigenous
people of South America are known to roast Goliath birdeaters in banana leaves, and the
resulting meal is described as tasting like prawns.
When the meal is done, diners reportedly use the spider's almost-inch-long fangs as toothpicks.
Not many animals come with their own dental hygiene tools.
And now we come to the largest spider of all, the Giant Huntsman, found in Laos.
With a foot-wide legspan, it was first discovered in a cave in 2001, making it another newcomer
to the world of giant spiders, and quite possibly not even the biggest spider left to find in
this big, itchy world.
More or less the size of a dinner plate you'd never use again, giant huntsman spiders are
mostly leg, but they're especially frightening because of how they catch their prey.
Like many larger spiders, the huntsman doesn't build a web, but actively hunts it prey, and
they're especially good at fitting into tight spots due to their flat body shape.
While thousands of species live throughout the world, the biggest ones generally live
in warmer climates.
Moving to Antarctica never looked so good.
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