Spiders, with their intricate webs and eerie appearances, have long fascinated and frightened humans.
While many are familiar with the common house spider or the iconic tarantula, the arachnid world harbours some truly bizarre and astonishing species that defy conventional understanding.
Join us as we delve into the strange and wonderful world of the weirdest spiders...
The weirdest spiders in the world
Darwin’s bark spider
Seduction is an awkward game. Stakes are high, as is the suitor’s vulnerability. But when the object of your desire is a ferocious predator that eats animals that look like you for breakfast, dating becomes a dance with death.
This is particularly true of Darwin’s bark spider (Caerostris darwini). The female is Goliath to his David; about 14 times his weight. To seduce her, the male must gingerly traverse her enormous web – a succession of tripwires designed to sense the slightest vibration – and copulate, all without triggering her attacking instinct. She’s not averse to catching and eating her sexual suitors before, during or after sex. Tough love...
Diving bell spider
This spider has its own diving helmet! The diving bell spider - so-named for the bubble of air that it creates within a web of silk - lives almost entirely underwater. It returns to the surface only to replenish the oxygen supply in its diving bell. Just hope no-one bursts its bubble...
This is not the only bubble-creating animal – check out the weird queen parrotfish and the water anole.
Fishing spider
Did you know, there's an Australian spider that uses its web as a fishing net to catch its prey?
Various species of these long-jawed orb-weavers are known to construct their webs near ponds and streams. But observations, such as those published in the journal Ethology, show that at least one sets snares that are in direct contact with the water, allowing them to catch water striders and other insects that live on the surface.
Cork-lid trapdoor spider
It’s always fun when you can’t tell what kingdom something belongs to. Animal? Vegetable? Fungus? But in this case, it’s not clear that it’s even a form of life. A button? A manhole cover? A biscuit? The truth is, it’s an animal – or a bit of one, at least.
The cork-lid trapdoor spider is an aptly-named (and very peculiar) arachnid that blocks the entrance of its burrow with an armoured shield on its rear to keep out predators and parasitic wasps. For obvious reasons, it also goes by the name of oreo spider, as well as Aztec coin spider and even happy-bum spider.
Bark spider
If there were a prize for the best impression of a grumpy toad doing an impression of a broken twig, this spider would surely be in the running. Bark spiders are remarkable not only for their exquisite camouflage, but also for the size and strength of their webs. A species discovered in Madagascar builds the biggest orb webs known – slung across rivers on supporting threads up to 25m long, to catch mayflies. The toady face is the spider’s backside, which makes the impression even more impressive.
Tree-stump orb-weaver
If spiders ate zombies, we might see more disembodied forearms of the un-dead decorating silken webs. They don’t, of course. What looks like a severed humanoid limb is the very spider that made the web. By day, this tree-stump orb-weaver sits motionless on a branch, where it convincingly passes for a snapped twig. Only with the arrival of darkness does it emerge from the safety of the undergrowth to spin its snare. And as daylight begins to break, it will dismantle its web and resume its twig-like pose on a nearby branch. SB
Bird-dropping spider
Many invertebrates – including caterpillars, moths, mantids and spiders – go for the bird-poo look. Some sport a glistening finish, as if they have been freshly deposited, others appear crumbly and desiccated. Either way, it can be an effective disguise. Especially when the mimic pays as much attention to detail as this Phrynarachne crab spider in Borneo.
A particularly nice touch is the silken smear it spins on the leaf, which gives the impression of splattering on impact. Phrynarachne doesn’t just look like a bird dropping; it smells like one, too. The disguise repels arachnid predators, while also attracting blowfly prey.
Goliath birdeater
The largest spider in the world, the impressively named Goliath birdeater, earns it place on this list for its huge size and weight. Hailing from the rainforests of northern South America, this is the largest spider by both body mass (up to 175g) and by body length (13cm).
Its name derives from an 18th-century engraving that depicted a tarantula of a different species eating a hummingbird, which led to the entire Theraposa genus being called ‘bird eaters’. This species mainly feeds on worms, amphibians and large insects – but, true to its name, it does also sometimes kill and eat birds.
Scorpion-tailed spider
This weird and aptly named spider looks like a scorpion-spider cross, thanks to the bizarre tail-like extension on the female's abdomen. The tail is used to scare off potential predators.
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