A nursery owner in West Sussex got a shock after an eight-legged stowaway was found on a shipment of olives from Cordoba, with the giant spider spotted crawling across the floor
A British man made a skin-crawling discovery when a venemous spider with a ‘huge appetite’, known as ‘Europe’s largest’, arrived with his delivery of olives.
The arachnid, a Spanish funnel-web spider, was discovered at a nursey in West Sussex as a shipment of olives from Cordoba, in Spain’s Andalusia region, was unloaded. It was spotted by the owner’s son as it casually strolled across the yard before hiding itself away.
The nursey owner, who asked not to be named, recalled: “My son, who was driving a forklift, saw it when he drove past. He just saw it out the corner of his eye walking slowly across the yard. He rang me and said there’s something big just walked across the yard and under a pot.”
He went on to explain: “It came in on a batch of olives we bought from a place near Cordoba. I had two truckloads of them and after we unloaded, it was walking across the yard slowly.”
After sharing a photo with arachnologists on Facebook, the man found out it was a Spanish funnel-web spider, or Macrothele calpeiana. The creature “has for some time been considered to be Europe’s largest spider”, according to a 1989 description of the species from the British Arachnological Society.
“It has also gained a reputation for being aggressive when disturbed and capable of administering a painful bite,” the description added. Working with plants and produce, the nursery owner is no stranger to seeing his share of wildlife.
“Honestly, we’re a nursery so we see bugs and spiders all the time,” he explained. But even for him, the sheer size of the spider stood out. He added: “That was the only thing. It was impressive. I think it’s the largest spider in Europe.”
The spider has now found a new home having been taken in by Jack Casson, a spider enthusiast from Hartlepool. He explained: “This species builds elaborate webs, with he entrance to their burrow being funnel-shaped and adorned with silken trip wires. Taxonomically, they are in the infraorder mygalomorphae which includes the trapdoor spiders and tarantulas. We only have one native mygalomorphae in the UK and they are much, much smaller and loook quite different. So I knew straight away tha the spider was a non-native stowaway.”
But the newcomer has been made to feel right a home. Jack said: “The spider looks to be female, is settling in very well and has already started webbing up her enclosure to make herself feel at home. She has a huge appetite, having eaten five circkets since I took her in. My girlfriend has named her Bessie.”
Jack, 38, added that the spider was nothing to fear, despite its fearsome description. He explained: “The spider is venemous but isn’t medically significant – meaning it can’t kill humans. Although I bet a bite would hurt a lot, I don’t plan on finding out either way.”
He added: “Spiders are hugely misunderstood creatures and I hope tha people reading this will look at them in a more positive light. None of our UK spiders are medically significant and the last thing a spider wants to do is bite a human hundreds of times its own size.
“We’re simply not on the menu and spiders don’t go around biting people willy nilly, contrary to popular belief it seems. Next time you see a spider about your home, let it go about its business. And thank it for the free pest control it provides, by helping keep at bay the bugs that actually do seek out humans to feed on.”