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Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as “bird-eating spiders” and can grow larger than the palm of a man’s hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane. Earlier this week locals spotted an Australian tarantula wandering towards a public garden in the centre of town where people often sit...

Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as “bird-eating spiders” and can grow larger than the palm of a man’s hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane.

British scientists study Hawaiian happy face spider Scientists have found themselves raising a smile when studying this creature - the happy face spider. 22 Apr 2009 Scientists think the spider, which has the scientific name Theridion grallator and is harmless to humans, has evolved the patterns to confuse predators. Photo: CATERS The spider, which measures just a few millimetres across, has developed bizarre markings giving the appearance of a smiling face. Scientists think the spider, which has the scientific name Theridion grallator and is harmless to humans, has evolved the patterns to confuse predators. It is under-threat of extinction in...

Wow! I never knew spiders would hve these reactions.Link

ScienceDaily (Jan. 1, 2009) — New interpretations of fossils have revealed an ancient missing link between today’s spiders and their long-extinct ancestors. The research by scientists at the University of Kansas and Virginia’s Hampden-Sydney College may help explain how spiders came to weave webs.

In many spider species, females eat the males after sex. Big females eat their puny mates simply because a) they're hungry and b) they can.

Feeding your worst fears By DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published March 29, 1998.) I have received some important information via a letter from Claire Nordstrum, 13, a student in Wisconsin (state motto: "Moo"). Claire states that her science teacher told the class that "it's a proven fact that on average a person eats six spiders in a year." Another science fact this teacher revealed, according to Claire, is that "wood ticks breathe through their butts." This sounds logical to me, since if a wood tick had its whole head burrowed into your body, it wouldn't...

WILLS POINT — Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park. Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't go anywhere near it. "At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, superintendent of the park about 45 miles east of Dallas. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can...

A GERMAN man who lived with over 200 black widow spiders was fatally bitten by one and then eaten by his other pet creepy-crawlies. Police found Mark Voegel, 30, in his apartment partially eaten by his pet spiders, several snakes, lizards and thousands of termites, Sun.co.uk reported. Neighbours called police after becoming worried about the smell coming from Voegel's apartment. Police were met by an unforgettably gruesome scene. “It was like a horror movie. His corpse was over the sofa," a police spokesman said. “Giant webs draped him, spiders were all over him. They were coming out of his nose...

Stockholm - Employees of heavy-vehicle maker Volvo have been confronted with a startling element of globalisation at their Swedish assembly plant - big hairy spiders from Brazil. The spiders have been discovered at the northern plant in Umea, 640 kilometres north of Stockholm - apparenlty arriving with shipments of truck cabins made in Brazil, reports said Tuesday. The biggest spider found so far was eight centimetres across, an employee a told Vasterbottens-Kuriren nesspaper, adding: 'It was not a Swedish spider.' Some of the creatures moved 'incredibly fast'. No one has been bitten, the reports said - but management has...

A cousin to the well-known black widow spider, brown widow spider, is increasingly being spotted in Louisiana, bug experts say. The spiders are generally found in tropical areas but were reported along the Mississippi Gulf Coast last year. Entomologists with the Louisiana State University AgCenter say the spiders likely migrated from Florida through commercial imports of plants, food, building materials, or furniture. LSU entomologist Dennis Ring is advising Louisiana residents to wear gloves, long-sleeved shirts and long pants when working outdoors, especially in areas that don't get a lot of human activity. Though less aggressive than the black widow, "its...

ALBANY, Ore.- These guys weren't exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop. What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy's ear—"like Rice Krispies"—ended up as an earache, and the doctor's diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear. "They were walking on my eardrums," Jesse Courtney said. One of the spiders was still alive after the doctor flushed the fourth-grader's left ear canal. His mother, Diane Courtney, said her son insisted he kept hearing a faint popping in his ear—"like Rice Krispies." Dr. David Irvine said it looked like the boy had something in his...

The wonderful things of spring: the scent of a Tombstone rose, the burst of Mexican poppies on Picacho Peak and a cool breeze across an Arizona porch. The not-so-wonderful things of spring: the buzz of the killer bees swarming around those spring flowers, the rattle of a coiled diamondback as you hike the trail to the peak and the welt left behind by the bite of the black widow that's been nesting in your front-porch rocker. Warmer days ahead means it's time to watch out for critters best left undisturbed.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A new study by German scientists of spiders' copulation techniques found that males leave part of their sex organ inside their female partner as a sort of "chastity belt" to deter rivals. "By breaking off parts of their intromittent organs inside a virgin female, males can reduce sperm competition and thereby increase their paternity success," the Bonn University researchers wrote in the journal "Behavioral Ecology". After setting the tone by shaking the female's web, the male has only seconds to have sex before the larger female kills him. In over 80 percent of cases, the tip of...

This is a must see video. Trust me. http://www.filecabi.net/video/spiders-drugs.html Mild profanity. (As*, bitc*)

Spider web silk, the strongest natural fiber known, could possess untapped medical potential in artificial tendons or for regenerating ligaments, scientists now say. A body of folklore dating back at least 2,000 years tells of the potential medical value of spider webs in fighting infections, stemming bleeding and healing wounds, explained molecular biologist Randolph Lewis at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Spider webs have even found a place in Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," where the character dubbed Bottom noted, "Good Master Cobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you." While research has found...

As if the West Nile-toting mosquito isn't enough to worry Mississippians, add the poisonous Latrodectus geometricus to the state's list of creepy-crawly creatures. Dr. Jerome Goddard, entomologist with the Mississippi Department of Health, said the poisonous Brown Widow spider that is a cousin to the well-known Black Widow, is now calling the Mississippi Gulf Coast home. "The tropical Brown Widow spider .... has recently been captured in many locations along the Mississippi Gulf Coast,"Goddard said in a news release Tuesday. He said his office has been receiving many phone calls reporting buildings and grounds heavily infested with this type of...

More than 10 new species of spiders from the sea have been identified, including some with legs spanning half a metre. The creatures were collected by the Australian Antarctic Division from the icy waters around Heard Island, near Antarctica, three years ago. They have been kept on ice until recently, when Melbourne researcher David Staples began cataloguing them. He has identified 29 species, and 10 of them are new to science. "They seem to be constantly evolving and why that is is one of the mysteries," he said. Mr Staples is about to return to Melbourne to begin formally describing...

WASHINGTON - Will you walk into my parlor, said a Cretaceous spider to an ancient fly. The classic spider's web, like Charlotte would have woven, was invented just once, way back in the Cretaceous period some 136 million years ago, scientists report. Called an orb web, it's the generally circular style spun by two major types of spiders, which had raised the possibility of the two groups evolving this form separately. But a paper in Friday's issue of the journal Science says a comparison of the spider genes related to web making shows that the orb web developed just...

Wildlife Awareness Needed with Summer Heat Servicemembers need to be cautious and alert for animals than can cause serious injury or death. By U.S. Army Spc. Anna-Marie Hizer 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment KIRKUK, Iraq, June 2, 2006 — Being aware of one’s surroundings is a skill soldiers constantly maintain and seek to improve. However, one potential hazard for troops in Northern Iraq may be easily missed. And it is right under their feet. "Prevention is the best cure. Use common sense; don’t put your hands in places that could house a snake." U.S. Army Maj. Ken Brooks Temperatures...