The adventurous spider has been named ‘Bessie’ (Picture: Pen News)
One of Europe’s largest spiders was spotted in a delivery of olives from Spain this week, startling a nursery owner.
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The Spanishfunnel-web spider is a venomous species with a ‘huge appetite’, and surprisingly made an appearance in West Sussex after a shipment of olives from Cordoba was unloaded.
The nursery owner, who asked not to be named, said: ‘My son, who was driving the forklift, saw it when he drove past. He just saw it out of the corner of his eye walking slowly across the yard. He rang me and said there’s something big just walked across the yard and under a pot.’
The father and son shared a photo of the spider with arachnologists on Facebook, and quickly discovered it was a Spanish funnel-web spider, or Macrothele calpeiana.Read More
A 1989 description of the species from the British Arachnological Society called it ‘Europe’s largest spider’, and also being ‘aggressive’ when disturbed. The creatures can grow up to three inches in diameter – much larger than the average British spider.
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The species can grow up to three inches in diameter (Picture: Pen News)
The nursery owner added: ‘Honestly, we’re a nursery so we see bugs and spiders all the time,’ he added. But the size?
‘That was the only thing. It was impressive.’
The spider has now been taken in by Jack Casson, a spider enthusiast from Hartlepool, who said the species builds elaborate webs – with the entrance shaped like a funnel, giving it the name.
‘The spider looks to be female, is settling in very well and has already started webbing up her enclosure to make herself feel at home.
‘She has a huge appetite, having eaten five crickets since I took her in. My girlfriend has named her Bessie.’
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