Giant Japanese funnel-web spider

Giant Japanese funnel-web spider
Female Macrothele gigas
Male Macrothele gigas
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Mygalomorphae
Family:	Macrothelidae
Genus:	Macrothele
Species:	M. gigas
Binomial name
Macrothele gigas Shimojana & Haupt, 1998

The Giant Japanese funnel-web spider, known formally as Macrothele gigas, is a species of funnel-web spider in the family Macrothelidae.[1] It is one of the largest funnel-web spiders in the world, and is highly venomous.[2]

Description

Members of the species are typically black with red fangs protruding from the mouth. When fully grown, spiders in the species can grow to have a leg span of ~6 inches (15 cm), making them one of the largest funnel web spider species in the world.[3] The spider is exclusive to the Ryukyu Islands in Japan.

Venom

The spider is extremely venomous, and typical symptoms after a bite can include unnatural amounts of perspiration, goose bumps, hypertension and tachycardia.[2]

Sources

1. taxonomy. "Taxonomy browser (Macrothele gigas)". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
2. Luo, Yi; Mao, Yan-Chiao; Liu, Po-Yu; Chiang, Liao-Chun; Lai, Kuo-Lung; Chien, Ju-Ying (2022-07-15). "A potential life-threatening Asian funnel-web spider bite (Macrothele gigas) in central Taiwan". Toxicon. 213: 83–86. Bibcode:2022Txcn..213...83L. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.04.010. ISSN 1879-3150. PMID 35447105.
3. "Macrothele gigas". Hardcore Arachnids. Retrieved 2024-08-28.