Mazda develops case of arachnophobia

An itsy bitsy spider may be crawling up your vehicle's evaporative canister and putting your life at risk. According to Jeremy Barnes, director of communication and national events for Mazda, the car maker discovered small spiders had entered the evaporate canister vent lines of some of its 4-cylinder Mazda 6 vehicles and spun webs, subjecting the vehicles to possible fuel leaks. "We've found blockage in this line that appears to be related to a particular type of spider," Barnes said. The culprit is the yellow sac spider, a small arachnid with a body about three-eighths of an inch long with legs that measure about three-fourths of an inch. Mazda has recalled 65,916 vehicles. Mazda will soon contact every 4-cylinder Mazda 6 owner in North America. Source Photo: Rick Vetter

Cute or not? jumping spider

This new jumping spider species, Orthrus sp., was found in a Papua-New Guinea rainforest during the 2008 expedition. (Conservation International/© Wayne Maddison )

Hairy, scary and looking for love

More than 30 species of the highly dangerous funnel web spider exist throughout Australia. The best known is the Sydney funnel web spider, Atrax robustus, which is found only within a 160 km radius of Sydney. The male is more dangerous than the female, which is unusual in the spider world. The male Sydney funnel web is also Australia's most dangerous spider, capable of causing death in as little as 15 minutes. Photo: R. Lowe, AVRU Recent heavy rains in the Sydney area are causing these creatures to emerge from their burrows in search of mates. The general manager of the Australian Reptile Park, Mary Raynor, said many of the aggressive spiders - about 30 to 40 a week - were being donated to the park by members of the public to be milked for their venom. "They're really coming alive, and looking for females in earnest before it gets too cold." Peak mating season for the fanged funnel webs is February to May, but this year the season began early, with large numbers collected before Christmas, probably because of high humidity. Australian Reptile Park staff collect venom from the fangs of a male funnel web by blowing on the spider. Source Photo: Nick Moir

A spider I hope never to meet

There's a series of photos from the Cairns Post, which show a giant Golden Orb Weaver spider who caught a chestnut-breasted mannikin bird in its web. The photos were snapped in a backyard in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW's Australian Reptile Park, said he had seen golden orb weaver spiders as big as a human hand but the northern species in tropical areas were known to grow larger. (via Boing Boing)

Why you should always wash your fruit before eating it

Kevin Hudson of Suffolk, got a rude surprise as he was washing grapes to give to his four-year-old son. He spotted a tarantula lurking in the bunch of grapes. "I was a little bit shocked," he said. "Spiders don't bother me too much, although it would have been a different story if my wife had been washing them." Source: BBC News

World of Tarantulas

Tarantulas are the largest and most revered of all spiders, comprising just over 900 species in the mygalomorph family Theraphosidae. The name tarantula originated around the 14th century from two genera of poisonous spiders, Lycosa (Wolf spiders) and Latrodectus (Widow spiders), found on the outskirts of the Italian city of Taranto in the State of Apulia. Rick West is one of the leading authorities on tarantulas (Theraphosidae) in the world and has traveled to over 27 countries to document and study them in their environment. The World of Tarantulas: Birdspiders is a fascinating website full of information, history and photographs. (via)

One Big Wolf Spider

Look what Jace caught! I don't think I would be that brave.

Water Spider Spins Its Own "Scuba Tank"

Water spiders survive below the surface thanks to a rudimentary "scuba tank" they spin from their own silk. Scientists at the University of Bern, Switzerland, determined that spiders use these scuba tanks, called air bells, as reservoirs, monitoring and replenishing oxygen levels to enable the animals to live underwater. Found in ponds throughout northern and central Europe, the water spider is the only spider that spends its entire life underwater.

Exotic spider with a nasty bite swarms across England

After years of mild winters, one of Britain's most colorful and striking spiders is on the march. Originally from the Mediterranean, they were discovered in England in 1922 where the climate was just warm enough for them to survive. For decades they clung to the sunnier South Coast but in recent years have been seen as far north as Cambridge. Many conservationists believe their move northwards is linked to our warmer climate since the 1970s.

Charlotte has been busy!

If you hate creepy-crawlies, you might want to avoid Lake Tawakoni State Park where a 200-yard stretch along a nature trail has been blanketed by a sprawling spider web that has engulfed seven large trees, dozens of bushes and even the weedy ground. "At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said park superintendent Donna Garde." Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs." There is little consensus about what sparked the phenomenon or even the type of spider responsible. Parks officials say similar but smaller webs have sprouted along another trail. Click photo to see large size.

Nudist's spider-killing stunt backfires

A naked man suffered burns to one-fifth of his body when he tried to set fire to a spider at a nudist resort. The 56-year-old Sydney man tried to kill what he thought was a funnel web spider by pouring petrol down the spider's burrow and igniting it with a match. But the fuel exploded and the man was left with burns to 18 per cent of his body, on the upper leg and buttocks.

Great British Spiders

This website documents the various species of spiders that can be found in the British Isles. The majority of the species featured are fairly common but there are a few exceptions.

USA Spider Identification Chart

Spider identification of venomous and dangerous spiders most commonly found in homes, their habitat areas, venom toxicity and spider bite first aid procedures. Featured are the brown recluse, black widow, hobo spider, wolf spider, white-tail spider, black house spider, huntsman and other spiders with notes to aid in identification. (via)

Araneae, Spiders of North-West Europe

This European spider site contains more than 1000 pictures of over 220 spiders commonly found in NW-Europe, especially in the area between the Netherlands and the south of France.

Pet spider kills its owner

9BERLIN) A man who lived in his own “zoo” of lizards and insects was fatally bitten by a pet black widow spider — then eaten by the other creepy-crawlies. Police broke in to Mark Voegel’s apartment to find spider Bettina along with 200 others, several snakes, a gecko lizard called Helmut and several thousand termites had gorged on his body. Neighbors alerted police after becoming alarmed by the stink. A police spokesman said: “It was like a horror movie. His corpse was over the sofa. “Giant webs draped him, spiders were all over him. They were coming out of his nose and his mouth. “There was everything there one could imagine in the world of reptiles. “Larger pieces of flesh torn off by the lizards were scooped up and taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.” Voegel is thought to have been dead for between seven and 14 days. (via)

Spiders Found In Oregon Boy's Ear

9-Year-Old Complained Of Earache, Doctors Find Pair Of Spiders Nested In Ear Canal These guys were not exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop. What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy's ear — "like Rice Krispies" — ended up as an earache, and the doctor's diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear. "They were walking on my eardrums," Jesse Courtney said. One of the spiders was still alive after the doctor flushed the fourth-grader's left ear canal.