Nobody in their right mind thinks this Facebook photo is real, but it's still guaranteed to induce a shiver in folks who hate arachnids. Some say the pictured specimen is native to Texas, others say it's Australian, and at least one Facebook post identifies it as an "Angolan witch spider" which supposedly feeds on cats and dogs. In reality, it's a common, relatively harmless wolf spider, a couple of inches in diameter, max.
The composite image was created by artist/photographer/musician Paul Santa Maria, who shot the original wolf spider pic in New Smyrna Beach, Florida in 2011.
See also:
• Attack of the Camel Spiders!
• The "Deadly" Two-Striped Telamonia
• The Long, Long Snake
• Giant Coconut Crab
• "World's Biggest Dog"
• Snowball, the Giant Mutant Cat of Ontario
Comments
Actually, it looks like a fairly good painting to me.
Nice one Gerda; I had regarded the theme with such disdain that I had overlooked the artistic aspects.
And as a corroborative detail added to lend artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing presentation, this hunter of pit-bulls apparently lost its third larboard leg in securing one of its meals!
This stuff is shared on facebook, why do not these urban legend disclaimers appear as your status updates. This where the most people are reached and influenced.
While there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the photo was shopped, it still gave me a chill. I get those little bastids around my house, sac spiders too. I hate ‘em. They get the bottom of my shoe REAL quick. Couldn’t figure out why I kept finding them dead in my kitchen — not alive, suitably dead! — until the night when I saw one of my cats bring one up from the basement. Yeah, I screamed.
D-v-d, any chance of getting the scoop on this video? “Raining spiders in Brazil” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPujnYOX9dc . There’s a small blurb in the “about” section of the video, but lots of debate as to specifically what kind of spiders they are, why they do this, how “normal” it really is, etc. (Not really UL fodder yet, but I think only a matter of time before they were filmed “right here in Peoria Illinois!” or whatever.)
–e
Re the “spider rain” in Brazil, this explanation sounds plausible to me:
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/11/meanwhile-in-brazil-spiders-have-taken-over-an-entire-town/
Not “Larboard” (another name for “port”. You might have meant starboard”.
Poor wolfy. Only 7 legs.
Actualy it doesnt even look like a wolf spider… we have these spiders here yes they are HUGE but not even close 2 this size… its called a cane spider or huntsman spider whatever fits your description… it doesnt spin webs but runs really fast and jumps like a frog… and its hella creepy
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/Wolfie-(1)-c-2012-Paul-Santa-Maria-(Proof).jpg
PHOTOSHO LOLL