An Exploration Of The Biggest, Most Terrifying Spiders You’ll Ever See
Did you know, that spiders are incredibly useful, particularly around agriculture. In the UK, they are known to eat more than the weight of the entire islands human population each and every year. They mostly dine on insects and critters that can be a pest to crops and livestock, and their webs catch untold numbers of flies. Yet despite their usefulness, lots of humans have irrational fears of these arachnid creatures. Even the biggest spiders are tiny compared to an adult human!
Sometimes however, these fears are not so irrational. There are spiders out there that have enough venom to seriously injure a human. While these may be restricted to specific areas, mostly remote, they give potential cause to the origins of these fears so many people have.
Some, if not most spiders are small. Varying in size from as small as the nib of a pen, to perhaps the size of the palm of your hand. In the UK, the largest spiders, which are Cardinal Spiders, have a leg span of around 12 cm, whereas the smallest, Money Spiders are around 2 mm across. But in some areas around the world, there are spiders that are much, much bigger.
In this post, we take a look at some of the biggest spiders on Earth, where they live and how large they really are. In this list, size is ordered by leg span rather than mass.
11 Of The Biggest Spiders On Earth
No.1 Giant Huntsman Spider (Heteropoda maxima)
Huntsman spiders are all of the order Sparassidae, and the Giant Huntsman is of the particular genus Heteropoda within this family. While huntsman are generally found around Australis and Asia, the giant huntsman are found only in one country, Laos, in Southeast Asia.
The Giant Huntsman Spider is the world’s largest spider in terms of leg span, which can reach as large as 12 inches (30cm). It is usually a yellowish-brown, with a distinct dark spotted pattern on its back and long dark stripes on the legs. It is believed that due to their pale color that these spiders live in caves. These spiders are strictly insectivores, unlike some other huntsmen that may also feed from small lizards and small birds.
- Body size: up to 8 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 30 centimeters
No.2 Goliath Birdeater Tarantula (Theraphosa blondi)
The Goliath Birdeater Tarantula is a species of new world spider native to the tropical rainforests in South America. It is found specifically across the north of South America, including Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela. It is the largest species of tarantula in the world, and has a larger body mass than any other spider. It is second only to the Giant Huntsman in terms of leg span.
The Goliath Birdeater has a stout, dark brown body with a large, furry abdomen and long, thin legs. Its body is covered in short, stiff hairs and bristles that give it a velvety appearance. These hairs are one of their primary methods of defence. When threatened, they will rub the hairs off their abdomen, and these hairs can be a harmful irritant to the skin and mucus membranes in humans.
It is a slow-moving, nocturnal hunter that feeds on a variety of insects and small vertebrates. While it is not considered particularly dangerous to humans, it has a painful bite and can emit a loud hissing noise when threatened. It does have a venomous bite, which is described as being similar to a wasp sting.
The Goliath Birdeater has three relatives in the same genus ‘theraphosa‘, which are all large spiders, but the goliath is the largest example of them all.
- Body size: up to 13 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 28 centimeters
No.3 Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater (Lasiodora parahybana)
The Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater (Lasiodora parahybana) is a species of large tarantula native to Brazil. They can reach up to 8-10 inches in leg span, making them one of the largest tarantulas in the world. Some sources claim this is the fourth largest spider in the world, behind the three species of Theraphosa, but that is based on the body length and not the overall length including legspan.
They are typically black in color across their entire bodies, but once mature, they develop hairs with a pink to red hue, which is more pronounced in males than in females. They have long, curved urticating hairs on their abdomen which they use for defense.
They Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeaters are a terrestrial species and prefer to stay on the ground. They feed on insects, small mammals, and occasionally frogs which they catch through ambush hunting. They are nocturnal, so they will spend most of their time in their burrows or under leafy cover during the day, coming out at night to hunt.
- Body size: up to 18 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 25 centimeters
No.4 Brazilian Giant Tawny Red Tarantula (Grammostola anthracina)
The Brazilian Giant Tawny Red Tarantula is native to the four countries of Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil in South America. It is reported to be the longest lived tarantula in the world, as well as one of the largest. It is characterized by its uniform brown color and urticating hairs on its abdomen.
These spiders are carnivorous, known to eat small insects like crickets, small reptiles, as well as small animals like mice. They are a common pet tarantula and while they do produce venom to paralyze their prey, it’s not strong enough to pose a threat to humans.
- Body size: up to 16 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 23 centimeters
No.5 Chaco golden-knee (Grammostola pulchripes)
The Chaco golden-knee is another large fanged, eye-catching spider native to South America. It is most commonly found in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. This spider has quite a large, distinctive shape and coloring, growing up to 5-6 inches in body length, and up to a little over 8 inches in legspan.
Its bright yellow and black coloring makes it easily recognizable. Its legs have long yellow bands, and the main body is black with yellow markings. They also develop a pink(ish) hair over their body and limbs. The Chaco golden-knee is a terrestrial spider, with a heavy body. It prefers to live in the grassland of dry, warm climates. It is a relatively docile species and is generally not aggressive towards humans.
- Body size: up to 15 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 20.3 centimeters
No.6 Hercules Baboon Spider (Hysterocrates hercules)
The Hercules Baboon Spider is a large and imposing spider, with a leg span of up to 8 inches (20 cm). Native to the forests of Africa, particularly in Nigeria, this spider is a member of the tarantula family and is known for its aggressive defensive posture.
Little is known about this elusive spider, with the only recovered specimen being captured over 100 years ago. It is known to be venomous but not to a degree that would be dangerous to humans.
- Body size: up to 9 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 20 centimeters
No.7 Colombian Giant Tarantula (Megaphobema robustum)
The Colombian Giant Tarantula, also known as the Columbian Giant Redleg, is native to the rainforests of both Columbia and Brazil. It usually lives around logs where it will hide or hunt, and is known to feed on other insects, small lizards and rodents. These are terrestrial spiders, with heavy bodies.
These spiders are known to reach between 6-8 inches (up to 20 cm) in size, and have a distinctive black and pale orange coloring. The Colombian giant tarantula is more likely to defend itself if threatened than many other types of tarantula, but even so, it is quite shy and would rather flee than fight.
As well as their bite, these spiders have barbs on their rear legs that they will drive into a threat, or they will spin in circles to confuse their adversary.
- Body size: up to 9 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 20 centimeters
No.8 Face-Sized Tarantula (Poecilotheria rajaei)
The Face-Sized Tarantula, (Poecilotheria rajaei) is a species of tarantula that can be found in Sri Lanka, and possibly India too It is a recent discovery, only being recorded for the first time in 2009. It is currently not known how rare this spider is, but it is believed to be in decline due to habitat loss and destruction. It is potentially endangered but data is still quite deficient to draw this conclusion as of yet.
These are large, mostly grey spiders with yellow and black ‘piping’ on some legs, and a unique, black striped pattern on their body. It has a total leg span of around 8 inches. Unlike most of these large spiders, this species is tree-dwelling, and builds its webs in the cavities and cracks of tall trees.
The Face-Sized Tarantula, is not a danger to humans, but their venom can help to kill their prey of small rodents, small birds, lizards and even some snakes.
- Body size: up to 12 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 20 centimeters
No.9 Camel Spider (Solifugae)
Camel spiders are a species of arachnid found in dry, desert regions around the world. This includes arid areas of the Middle East, the southwestern USA and Mexico. They can grow to be up to 6 inches in length and have a large and flat, oval-shaped body with long, spindly legs.
They are also commonly referred to as wind scorpions or sun spiders due to their ability to move quickly across the desert terrain. Although their name implies that they are in the order of spiders or scorpions, they are actually neither of these. They belong to a different order ‘Solifugae‘ within the class of arachnids, and are more closely related to solpugids.
Camel Spiders have no venomous capabilities. They are mainly nocturnal creatures and feed on insects and other small animals, mostly other arthropods.
- Body size: up to 7 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 15 centimeters
No.10 Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera)
The Brazilian Wandering Spider was first discovered in Brazil hence its name. However, this genus is known to exist elsewhere in South and Central America. It is known for being both an aggressive and a highly venomous spider. In fact this spider even appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records 2007 for being the most venomous animal. It might not be irrational to run away from this one!
The Brazilian wandering spider can grow to have a leg span of up to 4 – 5 inches. They are large hairy spindly-looking spiders who have eight eyes, two of which are large. Their legs are strong and spiny and they have distinctive red jaws which they display when angered.
- Body size: up to 5 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 15 centimeters
No.11 Cerbalus Aravaensis
Cerbalus Aravaensis is a species of huntsman spider native to the Middle East. It is one of eight species in the genus Cerbalus and is found only in the southern Arava Valley of Israel and Jordan, particularly in the Sands of Samar.
With a legspan up to 14 cm (5.6 inches) it is the largest huntsman spider anywhere in the Middle East. They live in burrowed out dens, with a kind of trapdoor that they make out of sand and a glue like substance that they use to conceal the entrance.
Cerbalus Aravaensis are most active at night, when they feed on small insects and other invertebrates. During the day, they retreat to their dens, but they are mostly active during the warmer months.
- Body size: up to 2.7 centimeters
- Legspan: up to 14 centimeters