The Great Fox-Spider is a Night-Time Hunter...

November 1, 2020 4:41 AM

Presumed extinct since 1993, the British great fox-spider has been spotted again! Add this one to your 2020 bingo cards, folks.
posted by Slinga (18 comments total)

I really like that it was found on an MoD training site, because, y'know, it's not bad enough it's a large spider, it's now a MILITARY-GRADE large spider.
posted by Katemonkey at 4:46 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

As terrified as I am of wolf spiders in my house (my partner catches them),I’m very happy to hear this.
posted by waving at 5:13 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

That is a handsome spider.
posted by ejs at 5:19 AM on November 1, 2020 [11 favorites]

The man in the black robe holding a scythe has already cried "Bingo."
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:35 AM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yeah you don’t have to fill in the whole card
posted by aubilenon at 5:41 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]

Gorgeous is right. What a beauty.
posted by kyrademon at 6:47 AM on November 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

Presumed extinct since 1993...

This is a pet peeve of mine. Using 'extinct' for 'Not seen in Britain' The spider has been alive and well in Europe which is a mere English channel away - a short distance for spiders.

Here's the entry in the World Spider Catalog.
posted by vacapinta at 7:00 AM on November 1, 2020 [10 favorites]

I cannot click the links. Could someone tell me how big it is so i can have accurate nightmares? Thanks!!
posted by supermedusa at 7:07 AM on November 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

That is a handsome spider.

Yeah but look at it's smug little face. It knows exactly how fancy it is.

I cannot click the links. Could someone tell me how big it is so i can have accurate nightmares? Thanks!!

Article says it's 5cm.
posted by dazed_one at 7:13 AM on November 1, 2020 [5 favorites]

the World Spider Catalog.

Oh neat!

Yeah but look at it's smug little face. It knows exactly how fancy it is.

Heh. It looks very dignified.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:29 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

There is very little light about the bedstead, but there is a strange movement there; it seems as if Sir Richard were moving his head rapidly to and fro with only the slightest possible sound. And now you would guess, so deceptive is the half-darkness, that he had several heads, round and brownish, which move back and forward, even as low as his chest. It is a horrible illusion. Is it nothing more? There! something drops off the bed with a soft plump, like a kitten, and is out of the window in a flash; another—four—and after that there is quiet again.
posted by doctornemo at 7:49 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

What a rakishly handsome fellow!

( I think the smug little face is pretty darn adorable, but honestly, most wolf spiders have pretty ridiculously adorable faces).
posted by thivaia at 10:30 AM on November 1, 2020

the World Spider Catalog

I'm always worried that kind of thing is a scam, like Columbia House CDs.
posted by aubilenon at 11:57 AM on November 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

Using 'extinct' for 'Not seen in Britain' The spider has been alive and well in Europe which is a mere English channel away

It's my understanding that the current policy position of the British government is that the rest of Europe does not exist.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:23 PM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]

I'm always worried that kind of thing is a scam, like Columbia House CDs.

The key is to cancel after the first dozen spiders arrive, so you're only out the one penny.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:10 PM on November 1, 2020 [16 favorites]

It’s a gorgeous spider, if you’re into that kind of thing”

Sure, pretty nice for the second-coolest family of hunting spiders...
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:29 PM on November 1, 2020

Well there's at least one good thing that happened on 2020.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 9:47 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

I giggled when I heard this described as a "huge spider". I have two spiders living outside my bedroom door (outdoors) easily as big, but nowhere near as big as I have previously removed from other homes in which I have lived in Australia.
posted by bigZLiLk at 4:30 AM on November 4, 2020