Sydney funnel-web spider Hercules sets record for largest specimen

January 10, 2024 7:34 PM

Sydney funnel-web spider Hercules sets record for largest specimen collected in Australia. With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail, the largest male specimen of the world's most venomous arachnid has found a new home at the Australian Reptile Park where it will be milked for venom to make antivenom. Since the inception of the antivenom program in 1981, there has not been a fatality in Australia from a funnel-web spider bite.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (15 comments total)

Pretty sure he’ll escape, hop a plane to California, and end up under my bed. My solution? Never sleeping again.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:50 PM on January 10 [17 favorites]

I grew up with pretty severe arachnophobia, which has remarkably lessened over time to a point where I even find tiny jumping spiders cute, but I am not clicking on a story about a spider if his name is Hercules.
Fascinating, though, about the antivenom.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 8:47 PM on January 10 [4 favorites]

Huh--females are bigger, but males are deadlier. So they're thrilled they've got a male who is so big, because he's capable of producing larger amounts of that toxin which can then be used to make antitoxin. That makes sense and makes finding a big spider even cooler. So often finding a really big version of something just makes a cool anecdote or a trophy mount; here his size means that he's going to be taken good care of for life and will save human lives into the bargain!

Apparently sex differences in venom are common in spiders, and funnel web spiders have unusually complex venom profiles with hundreds of peptides. I wonder why, and what kinds of arms races they're in with prey species to incentivize that kind of growth. What an interesting species!
posted by sciatrix at 8:59 PM on January 10 [5 favorites]

I'm going to pat it
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:57 PM on January 10 [6 favorites]

If you want to happy-cry, look up videos of children hearing their mommy for the first time when their inner ear implant is turned on. Go ahead, I'll wait. It's worth it.

That's an Australian invention. Among the many medical innovations we are correctly proud of.

The truth is, despite our reputation, spider and snake bites are not a problem because we did SCIENCE! I mean, you're going to have a bad day. It's going to be a very bad day. It's going to be a point of interest in the story of your life. But you'll survive, because we did the science, and we have the cure. No one has died from that for a long time.

If a crocodile or a shark bites you in half, you're fucked. Sorry, our science isn't that great yet.
posted by adept256 at 10:35 PM on January 10 [13 favorites]

I can't believe that she opened the top and it almost got out, and later she almost opened it up again to give a better view. The news anchor said nervously "Better keep the lid on for your own safety."

I know she works with these spiders every day, but that would have scared the bejesus out of me.
posted by eye of newt at 12:05 AM on January 11

Oh, what a cute little black spider! Just what I always wanted. My own little black spider. I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him and pat him and pet him and and rub him and caress him.
posted by whatevernot at 1:54 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]

With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail,

And I'm out!
posted by From Bklyn at 2:06 AM on January 11 [4 favorites]

This article made me curious about antivenom production. Turns out it’s a bit like convalescent plasma — you inoculate another animal with small amounts of the venom and then you harvest their serum or plasma to get the antibodies they produce to it. Wild.
posted by eirias at 2:32 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Adrian Tchaikovsky commented, "Jesus, please do let these spiders evolve into massive and massibely intelligent beings!"
posted by NoMich at 4:27 AM on January 11

They're all good spider bois, Bront.
posted by briank at 7:20 AM on January 11 [3 favorites]

definitely team Not Clicking on These Links but this is very cool about the antivenom. I know I'm supposed to like spiders, even the deadly ones are beneficial (but too scary wahhhhh).
posted by supermedusa at 8:04 AM on January 11

I got a friend who is gleefully raising a black widow spider they got from a friend of a friend who found it in some imported grapes in Toronto. So, that's a thing, yeah, spiders in imported grapes.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:13 AM on January 11

With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail,


Yeah my brain processed the 'nail' part of that word pretty slowly, so my thoughts went from "oh yeah, I don't doubt they're strong enough to break the skin of a hum....woah, woah, yikes!!"
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:00 AM on January 11

Y'all, do you think that spider expert goes to, like, death metal shows or extreme sports meetups and just casually drops that she handles and milks fatally poisonous spiders for her job? Because I think I would, if I were her.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 5:36 PM on January 11