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Project Noah Nature School
Phoneutria sp.
This bad girl will easily fit on a large saucer or small dinner plate. In this position she is approximately 6 inches in diameter (foot to foot) We discovered after our close encounter that these spiders are known to cause fatalities!
Amazon Rainforest. Found along the main trail between the ACTS field station and the canopy walkway
According to Wikipedia: "Phoneutria, commonly known as Brazilian wandering spiders, armed spiders ("armadeiras", as they are known in Portuguese), or banana spiders (not to be confused with the relatively harmless Nephila), are a genus of defensive and venomous spiders of potential medical significance to humans. They are mainly found in tropical South America, with one species in Central America.[1] These spiders are members of the Ctenidae family of wandering spiders. The Brazilian wandering spiders appear in Guinness World Records from 2010 as the world's most venomous spider. However, several venomous species of arachnid are far more likely to attack a human, and the Guinness book of World Records states that although the Brazilian wandering spider is the most toxic, more deaths actually occur from black widow and brown recluse spider bites, due to the rarity of the Wandering spider biting anyone"
Spotted on Jul 11, 2012
Submitted on Jul 11, 2012
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