'Giant spider' caught on camera on M3

A giant spider has been caught on CCTV camera apparently terrifying motorists on the M3 in Hampshire.

The oversized eight-legged creature was filmed apparently scuttling across junction 6 of the motorway.

Thankfully for passing drivers it was actually a trick of the eye caused by a normal-sized spider sitting on the camera lens.

It was spotted by Road Management System for Europe staff from Hampshire County Council who tweeted the picture which quickly went viral.

"Apart from a giant spider terrorising motorists passing by #M3 J6, #Hampshire's roads are now quiet & incident free," they tweeted.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Giant_spider_caught_on_camera_on_M3

Possibility of the existence of the Congolese giant spider

Spiders might exist that have crawled out of nightmares. They're called the "J'ba FoFi" (giant spider, pronounced ch-bah foo fee) in Central Africa. 

Many people might define a giant spider as one that's bigger than their hand. Some may think bigger and envision the horrifying Goliath 'bird eating spider' that dwells in the darker corners of the ancient Amazon rain forest. That eight-legged terror spans a whopping 14-inches.

Unfortunately, those people aren't thinking big enough.

The size of the Congolese Giant spider-when its legs are included-is said to be up to five feet across.

According to cryptozoologists (researchers that investigate unknown creatures that have not been recognized by orthodox science), most of the J'ba FoFi dwell in the Congo. Natives tell stories of the giant web-nests the spiders build, similar to a trap-door spider.

Continued:  http://www.helium.com/items/1824206-possibility-of-the-existence-of-the-congolese-giant-spider

Giant spider discovered in Laos

Leg span of more than 33 cms

October 2012. A scientist has discovered a harvestman (spider) with a leg span of more than 33 centimetres during a research trip to Laos; this is one of the largest representatives of the entire order of spiders anywhere in the world. The scientist, from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, has so far failed to identify it to species level.

The reason Dr. Peter Jäger from the Senckenberg Research Institute went to Laos was to film a major TV production. "In between takes I collected spiders from the caves in the southern province of Khammouan", the Frankfurt arachnologist explains. In doing so, he made a sensational discovery. "In one of the caves I discovered a harvestman that was absolutely huge." The leg span of the gigantic male harvestman was more than 33 centimetres and therefore one of the world's largest. The current record is just over 34 centimetres leg span for a species from South America.

Unidentified
Initially the discovery lay hidden among other organisms and was only recognised as unique when sorted and labelled. "In attempting to categorise the creature properly, however, and give it a scientific name, I soon reached my limits", says Jäger. The Frankfurt scientist deals mainly with huntsman spiders - harvestmen are not his particular field. Even the specialist he consulted, Ana Lucia Tourinho from the National Institute for Research of the Amazon (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil, who is currently a visiting academic at the Senckenberg Arachnology lab, could only conclude that it is probably the genus Gagrella in the Sclerosomatidae family. 

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/laos-spider.html