Largest male specimen of the world’s most venomous spider found in Australia
- The Sydney funnel-web spider dubbed ‘Hercules’, measuring 7.9 cm from foot to foot, will be used in the Australian Reptile Park’s antivenom programme
- A spider keeper at the park said receiving a male funnel-web ‘this big is like hitting the jackpot’
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 help save lives after a member of the public discovered it by chance.
The deadly Sydney funnel-web spider dubbed “Hercules” was found on the Central Coast, about 80km (50 miles) north of Sydney, and was initially given to a local hospital, the Australian Reptile Park said in a statement on Thursday.
The spider measured 7.9 cm (3.1 inches) from foot to foot, surpassing the park’s previous record-holder from 2018, the male funnel-web named “Colossus”.
Sydney funnel-web spiders usually range in length from one to five centimetres, with females being generally larger than their male counterparts but not as deadly. They are predominantly found in forested areas and suburban gardens from Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, to the coastal city of Newcastle in the north and the Blue Mountains to the west.