ENVR Super-size trapdoor spider discovered in Australia

[Intestinal Fortitude]

Super-size trapdoor spider discovered in Australia

The arachnid has been named Euoplos dignitas to reflect "the impressive size and nature of the spider," scientists with the Queensland Museum said.

www.nbcnews.com

Super-size trapdoor spider discovered in Australia​

The arachnid has been named Euoplos dignitas to reflect "the impressive size and nature of the spider," scientists with the Queensland Museum said.

Scientists have described a rare and giant species of trapdoor spider found only in the Brigalow Belt in Central Queensland, Australia.Queensland Museum

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March 21, 2023, 12:38 PM PDT
By Antonio Planas
Researchers in Australia have made a big discovery: a super-size species of trapdoor spider found only in Central Queensland.
The arachnid has been dubbed Euoplos dignitas — a name "derived from the Latin "dignitas," meaning "dignity" or "greatness" — “reflecting the impressive size and nature of the spider,” scientists with the Queensland Museum said in a statement.

The male Euoplos dignitas.Queensland Museum
The spider lives in open woodland habitats and builds its burrows in the black soils of the Brigalow Belt in Central Queensland, which is on the northeastern coast of Australia.

The species has lost much of its habitat to land clearing, which most likely makes it an endangered species, the scientists said.

While the Australian team did not detail how big their find is, trapdoor spiders are typically up to 1.5 inches long and nest underground, according to National Geographic. They are hairy tropical spiders, and their bites can cause pain and swelling in humans.

According to Britannica, the spiders construct burrows in the ground and build silken-hinged doors. The spiders then feed by quickly opening the trap doors and grabbing unsuspecting insects that pass by.

In a video posted to announce the Australian discovery of the giant creepy crawler, Michael Rix, the principal curator of arachnology with the Queensland Museum Network, said the experts were excited to “scientifically document this new species.”

The female Euoplos dignitas.Queensland Museum
Jeremy Wilson, a research assistant in arachnology with the Queensland Museum Network, said in the video that the research is exciting because “you just never know what you’re going to find.”
Wilson said naming the new species has real-life positive ramifications, because being a known species means “it can be protected.”
Antonio Planas
Antonio Planas is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

 

[skwentnaflyer]

From the title, I thought they found Shelob.

 

[bw]

Super-size trapdoor spider discovered in Australia

Of course.

 

[babysteps]

That's a Nope Spider if I ever saw one...

 

[campswampy]

Flamethrower!!

 

[AlaskaSue]

While I admire the Creator's amazing diversity of design...this is among the bigger NOPEs I find in 2023. I'd love to visit Australia some day - dream is to sail around it and NZ - I'll pass if this is the kind of thing they have going on. I'll take my dangers on the macro size (earthquakes and grizzy bears) thank you very much!

 

[Greenspode]

I would literally burn down my entire farm and all the habitat on my entire property, and live in a sealed up shipping container with motion detectors, an alarm system, and fire extinguishers filled with spider poison, if I saw one of these living here.

I guess we have it pretty good here in Upstate NY, cause I really don't spend a lot of time, if any, worrying that some wild critter out there is going to kill or wound me at any moment. Grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolves, alligators, snakes, spiders, etc., etc.

How do people live like this?

 

[ShadowMan]

 

[Millwright]

...their bites can cause pain and swelling in humans.

This is positively cuddly...for Australia.

Everything else there causes an agonizing death with no antidote.

 

[Sammy55]

Do. not. like. spiders.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

 

[greysage]

It is only an inch and a half long. The pics make it look like it's king crab sized.

 

[TKO]

While I admire the Creator's amazing diversity of design...this is among the bigger NOPEs I find in 2023. I'd love to visit Australia some day - dream is to sail around it and NZ - I'll pass if this is the kind of thing they have going on. I'll take my dangers on the macro size (earthquakes and grizzy bears) thank you very much!

I work with an Australian lady. She tells me when she was in the US, and she lived in the west and in the southeast, she said way more scary things here than in Australia.

 

[Pat Hogen]

I work with an Australian lady. She tells me when she was in the US, and she lived in the west and in the southeast, she said way more scary things here than in Australia.

The inhabitants, for starters.

 

[Cardinal]

It is only an inch and a half long. The pics make it look like it's king crab sized.

How big it is depends on what part of your anatomy it is crawling on.

 

[Repairman-Jack]

 

[Repairman-Jack]

It is only an inch and a half long. The pics make it look like it's king crab sized.

"While the Australian team did not detail how big their find is, trapdoor spiders are typically up to 1.5 inches long"

 

[TheSearcher]

 

[pauldingbabe]

Soooo...is 1.5 inches total length? Just the body? What's the big secret?

There are trapdoor spiders all over. There here in GA, nice size too. They carry the babies on the back, so if your going to smack/tap dance on it, those babies then fall off and run everywhere. Learned that little fact cleaning the pool. DH fished out what he thought was dead. I said it ain't dead, I saw it move! I happened to have a can of insect dead, thank God. DH smacked the skimmer on the walkway and about a hundred spiders went about their day.

So what was thought one almost drowned spider, turned into too many frelling spiders everywhere.

I jumped up and down screaming "Holy, Holy, Holy" while spraying bug b killed everywhere besides the current nightmare happening at my feet.

Yep, was an interesting first year in the country.

How my DH didn't get smacked into the deep end of the pool is still a mystery...

 

[FireDance]

Well, I think it’s neat. I am generally a spider fan. However, this one can stay in Australia.

It’s kind of like some people, stay away and everything will be fine.

 

[babysteps]

I looked for more info on their "super-size". These are apparently coming in at about 5cm, or just under 2 inches. So bigger than the regular ones, but not gonna take down a house cat or anything.

It's still a big dang nope spider.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Please remove all pics from the OP except for a single of the spider.

Thanks

And please start self-policing better. I’m just going to start deleting your posts.

 

[Loretta Van Riet]

Everything in Australia wants to kill you.

 

[Macgyver]

 

[SurvivalRing]

 

[Alaskan_Leatherhead]

This is a reason people live in Alaska, there are no snakes of any kind and no poisonous spiders.

 

[Double_A]

It is only an inch and a half long. The pics make it look like it's king crab sized.

Could be photoshopped?

For reference,
The leaves in the photo are leaves from the Eucalyptus tree. In my area of California, Eucalyptus trees abound near the coastal areas. Here those leaves are about 5"-8" long and 1/2"-1" wide tapered to a pointy tip, just like the photo.

 

[SurvivalRing]

When we lived on ten acres acres of Wyoming prairie out near Pavillion, Wyoming, with the beautiful 13,000 acre Ocean lake just down the hill when we looked out our bedroom window for several years, I never expected to worry about SPIDERS…

Over the next several years, I saw wolf spiders, brown recluses, and for the first time in my life…black widows…mostly in the two car garage. Not only did i see them…but a few were as big as my thumb!

Holy crap…

Came across dozens more in Foley, Missouri…(50 miles northwest of St. Louus) having a lot to do with lots of moisture from rain, rain…and more rain. I hated the shed…and despised the crawl space…gave me the heebeegeebies

Then the flood of summer of 2019.



Waves upon waves of billions of spiders crossing three miles of farmland, the flooding Mississippi River moving right behind them.

Nightmares that won’t go away…

 

[psychgirl]

 

[night driver]

"HANS!! GET THE FLAMENWORFER!!!!"

 

[kiawahman]

So, an article about a super-size spider contains no mention of its length... that's great journalism.

 

[et2]

EAT MORE BUGS

 

[Littlesister]

Soooo...is 1.5 inches total length? Just the body? What's the big secret?

There are trapdoor spiders all over. There here in GA, nice size too. They carry the babies on the back, so if your going to smack/tap dance on it, those babies then fall off and run everywhere. Learned that little fact cleaning the pool. DH fished out what he thought was dead. I said it ain't dead, I saw it move! I happened to have a can of insect dead, thank God. DH smacked the skimmer on the walkway and about a hundred spiders went about their day.

So what was thought one almost drowned spider, turned into too many frelling spiders everywhere.

I jumped up and down screaming "Holy, Holy, Holy" while spraying bug b killed everywhere besides the current nightmare happening at my feet.

Yep, was an interesting first year in the country.

How my DH didn't get smacked into the deep end of the pool is still a mystery...

From south Alabama

 

[The Mountain]

Found another article that says they are about 2" long

 

[alchemike]

While the Australian team did not detail how big their find is...

Fail.

 

[Intestinal Fortitude]

Please remove all pics from the OP except for a single of the spider.

Thanks

And please start self-policing better. I’m just going to start deleting your posts.

photo fascist!! (done)

 

[Firebird]

Remember the spider in the hotel in Australia that was eating the possum? Sawed off 870!!