From ambushing its prey to shooting venoms - and even building webs strong enough to catch small birds - spiders are armed with all sorts of ways to catch their prey. It's no wonder they evoke nightmares!
Meet some of the scariest... and most ingenious spiders on the planet - and learn to love them rather than hate them!
8 of the scariest spiders
Spotted wolf spider
Range: British Isles
Size: 1cm (body) 3cm (legspan)
Venom: yes
Hunting style: Ambush
Fear factor: The UK’s tiny suburban terror scuttles around gardens fast – very fast. Fast enough to give you the creeps at the thought of them scuttling indoors...while you're asleep
Common brown trapdoor spider
Range: Australia
Size: 1.5cm (body) 3.5 cm (legspan)
Hunting style: Ambush - pounces from a hidden lair
Fear factor: Lies in wait in its silk-lined burrow, ready to pounce as prey wander past. Can get mistaken for the funnel-web spider
Black widow
Range: North America
Size: 1.5cm body 3cm legspan
Venom: yes
Hunting style: web
Fear factor: Female venom can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fainting and even death in humans.
Sun spider (Solifugid)
Range: Middle East
Size: 5cm (body) 12.5 cm legspan
Venom: no
Hunting style: ambush
Fear factor: Huge-fangged arachnid that skitters across the desert at speeds of up to 16kph - you wouldn't want that chasing you....
Goliath bird-eating spider
Range: South America
Size: 12cm (body) 28cm (legspan)
Venom: yes
Hunting style: burrow and ambush
Fear factor: being the size of a dinner plate – and the largest spider in the world - is probably enough to evoke fear - but if not it also fires irritant hairs if alarmed - nice!
Spitting spider
Range: Europe
Size: 2mm (body) 5mm (legspan)
Venom: Yes
Hunting style: Spitting
Fear factor: Squirts a jet of sticky venom, bonding prey to the ground
Sydney Funnel-web spider
Range: Australia
Size: 4cm (body) 7cm (legspan)
Venom: Yes
Hunting style: burrow and ambush
Fear factor: very aggressive and with a venom humans find agonising. We named it one of the world's most venomous spiders
Golden orbweb spider
Range: South East Asia and Australia
Size: 3.5cm (body) 20cm (legspan)
Venom: Yes
Hunting style: web (up to 1m across)
Fear factor: Weaves vast golden web strong enough to catch small birds
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