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A supermarket in Germany was evacuated last Friday after a worker reported seeing one of the world's must deadly and vicious spiders -- a Brazilian Wandering Spider -- jump out of a banana crate. The store is due to reopen Monday after it was sprayed with pesticide -- but the beast has not been found.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2011) — One of the most feared spiders in North America is the subject a new study that aims to predict its distribution and how that distribution may be affected by climate changes. When provoked, the spider, commonly known as the brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa), injects powerful venom that can kill the tissues at the site of the bite. This can lead to a painful deep sore and occasional scarring.

The 165-million-year-old species is a relative of today's large web weavers. The biggest known fossil spider has been found in China, a new study says. Measuring nearly 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in length, the 165-million-year-old fossil was uncovered in 2005 by farmers in Inner Mongolia (see map)—a region teeming with fossils from the middle Jurassic period. "Compared to all other spider fossils, this one is huge," said study co-author ChungKun Shih, a visiting professor at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China. "When I first saw it, I immediately realized that it was very unique not only because of its size,...

The largest fossil spider uncovered to date once ensnared prey back in the age of dinosaurs, scientists find. The spider, named Nephila jurassica, was discovered buried in ancient volcanic ash in Inner Mongolia, China. Tufts of hairlike fibers seen on its legs showed this 165-million-year-old arachnid to be the oldest known species of the largest web-weaving spiders alive today — the golden orb-weavers, or Nephila, which are big enough to catch birds and bats, and use silk that shines like gold in the sunlight. The fossil was about as large as its modern relatives, with a body one inch (2.5...

Scientists believe a spider could lead to a breakthrough in sexual health after finding a single bite can cause a four hour erection. Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia believe the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider could lead to a new cure for erectile dysfunction. Dr Kenia Nunes, a physiologist at the college, said it works in a different way to Viagra, reports the Daily Mail, "This is good because we know that some patients don't respond to the conventional therapy. This could be an optional treatment for them," she said. Her study, published in the Journal of...

"Native to Asia, it was first found in Allentown, Pa., and has no natural enemies here."

The 28 year-old suffered severe burns after attacking the arachnid with an aerosol can at his home in Clacton in Essex. The man was summoned by his wife to deal with a spider she had seen scuttling behind the lavatory on Bank Holiday Monday. Not being able to reach it, the man decided to kill it by spraying it with the can. However he was unable to see whether it was dead because the bulb in the bathroom light had blown. At this point he turned to a cigarette lighter to illuminate the room, but in the process ignited the...

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. -- A Paulding County woman is recovering from major surgery after being bitten by a brown recluse spider at her home. “I would have never known in a million years that a spider could ever do this much damage,” said Victoria Franklin. Franklin was at WellStar Windy Hill Hospital Friday morning, recovering from an April mastectomy. “I didn’t flip out over that. I was glad to be alive,” she said of her surgery. She found out she lost her left breast when the hospital staff told her after she woke up from an 11-day coma. “She said,...

Below is the complete email conversation that Adelaide man David Thorne claims he had with a utility company chasing payment of an overdue bill. From: Jane Gilles Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.19pm To: David Thorne Subject: Overdue account Dear David, Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding. Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm To: Jane Gilles Subject:...

Female sexual cannibals do not find their male partners particularly tasty. Relative to their normal prey, male spiders are not very nutritious, and females only eat their mates if they are starving, researchers have found. That suggests that, among spiders at least, hunger is not the main driving force that compels females to eat their partners after sex. The finding by scientists at Miami University, US is published in the journal Oecologia. Cannibalism is a behaviour that has long intrigued biologists. Males are a less nutritionally balanced food item for females than other prey Spider expert Dr Shawn Wilder Miami...

With a lanky legspan of up to nearly a half foot, a newly discovered spider species is the largest among its family of arachnids in the Middle East. The spider, now dubbed Cerbalus aravensis, was discovered in the dunes of the Sands of Samar in the southern Arava region in Israel by a team of biologists from the University of Haifa-Oranim. The scientists say C. aravensis is nocturnal and mostly active during the hottest months of the year. It constructs underground dens that are sealed off with a lifting door made of sand particles that are glued together to camouflage...

A creepy case of a man who got tarantula hairs stuck in his eye has doctors advising people to wear eye protection when handling the eight-legged pets. In February 2009, a 29-year-old man visited the St. James's University Hospital in Leeds, England, after enduring three weeks of a red, watery and light-sensitive eye. A dose of antibiotics for what was presumed to be conjunctivitis didn't clear the symptoms. Doctors at the hospital examined the eye under high-magnification lenses and spotted hair-like projections sticking into the cornea of the right eye. "When we looked at this guy's cornea, the clear window...

SOUTHEAST Queenslanders should be on the lookout for large black funnel-web spiders as big as an adult hand. As the hot, humid weather arrives, the potentially deadly spiders are on the move, with the first reports of the season this week. Queensland Museum senior curator Robert Raven said yesterday sightings of male funnel-webs had been confirmed at Mt Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland and Mt Glorious, west of Brisbane. With summer temperatures and rain, male funnel-webs would be active until at least March or April. Males often wandered at night searching for females, especially during rain. They are black,...

Meet the newest odd couple of the animal kingdom: the giant female and tiny male of the largest web-spinning spider known to science: Nephila komaci. The female of the species has a leg span of up to 5 inches (12 centimeters), while the male—which spends much of its time clambering on its partner's back—barely reaches an inch (2.5 centimeters), a new study says.Part of a well-known group of golden orb-weaver spiders—which can spin webs up to three feet (one meter) wide—N. komaci was first identified in a South African museum collection in 2000. But it wasn't until a 2007 field...

Females of the Australian redback spider, one of the world's most poisonous spiders and a close relative to the black widow, demand 100 minutes of courting or else they usually cannibalize their male suitors, research finds. Proving that bigger isn't always better in the mating game, the tiniest of males sometimes approach female redbacks after offering the critical 100 minutes of wooing and successfully mate without being eaten, according to the paper in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The study shows that puny males of this species can win at love without exerting much effort and begins...

Spider Bugs the Pope in Prague [See URL Video] A spider appeared on Pope Benedict's robes as he addressed politicians and diplomats in Prague on Saturday, disappearing and appearing again.

I believe it's some sort of orb spider, isn't it? Harmless, but good for the garden? Looks huge, but it was about as big as a skinny quarter...beautiful markings though! Here's the original picture:

There is a species of spider that builds models of itself, which it uses as decoys to distract predators. The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body. So believe the scientists who made the discovery, which is published in the journal Animal Behaviour. The arachnid's behaviour also offers one explanation for why many spiders like to decorate their webs with strange-looking ornaments.

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TULSA, Okla. — One of the most deadly spiders in the world has been found in the produce section of a Tulsa grocery store. An employee of Whole Foods Market found the Brazilian Wandering Spider Sunday in bananas from Honduras and managed to catch it in a container. The spider was given to University of Tulsa Animal Facilities director Terry Childs who said this type of spider kills more people than any other.