Banana Spider
A very deadly banana spider was killed by the RSPCA after terrorising staff at a Chatham supermarket. The highly-venomous arachnid was spotted by Kate Whitmore, 25, as she unpacked a box of fruit to put on display at the Co-op store in Wayfield Road, Chatham, Kent.
“I picked the bunch up, held it close to my face and thought, ‘What is that?’ It wasn’t a very nice spider.”
The palm-sized eight-legged creature, otherwise known as Phoneutria nigriventer, ranks alongside the black widow and funnel-web as one of the world’s most dangerous spiders. After alerting her supervisor, the shop was promptly closed while the RSPCA was called out. They were advised to keep the spider contained and not approach it until the animal collection officer arrived.
Ms Whitmore added: “We had customers coming in saying, ‘We’ll kill it for you, it’s only a spider’. We thought, ‘If you knew exactly what it was like you wouldn’t’.”
The spider was eventually taken away to be put down.
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September 5th, 2008 at 8:24 am
[…] Banana Spider 1 hour ago […]
January 15th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Why r they called wanderers wen they have webs 4 trapping prey
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 am
This is a very common yellow banana spider that we have here in south Florida. I have lived with these spiders for many years. They run away and are not very aggressive. They are not very venomous, but they are impressive with their huge size. This is not the same as the brazillian wandering or “banana spider”. This is a orb web spider and the brazillian spider is not a web dweller. I have had these in my backyard for many years and I never had a probelm with these spiders. The brazilian spiders look totally different.
June 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
That is the uglest spider I have seen. Gross Gross!
June 26th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Dear All,
that folks ( pictured spider ) is not Phoneutria
nigriventer that is an orb weaver or Nephilidae
Nephila they spin complex webs and use webs to catch prey as large as birds in their webs. Phoneutria
nigriventer stalk they prey as they are wolf spider family pure strength and venom highly toxic to disable prey immediately. They are very aggressive when prevoked, acrobatics is not unsual with this spider truely dangerous. Men beware when they bite they can caurse a painful errection, i believe women suffer genital difficulties also, heavy bleeding etc… Beautiful creature though, check them out on you tube feeding.
Dan.
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:55 am
what a screw up, thats not even the right picture, what kind of innacurate silliness is this?
September 24th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I am a Security Officer for Securitas and have observed a Banana Spider in web along side my gatehouse. At first I did not know what kind it was, but it looked very omni mus . I tried to take a picture with my cellphone , NG! I looked up spiders and found your website. Today is 24th Sept 2009. Tomorrow the 26th I will call the proper authorities. Great info on this Spider!
March 5th, 2010 at 8:34 am
You guys are using the wrong picture, and were probably afraid of a Nephila – which is usually a HARMLESS spider if not provoked.
Please, check the difference yourselves:
Nephila:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephila
Phoneutria:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneutria_nigriventer
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
i found this spider in my backyard over the patio door and there was a huge egg beside it in a huge web and i killed it. it was a large yellow body exactly like the banana spider and it had 8 legs, really long legs. . i live in olive branch, ms
September 21st, 2010 at 12:32 pm
OMG please take this picture down. This is not the right spider. The Yellow Banana Spider you have pictured here is not the spider that you are talking about in the story. Whoever published this needs to do some more research on their subject. Yellow Banana Spiders that build webs are harmless and great to have in gardens and door ways. I have one over my doorway that eats all the mosquitoes and moths that try to come in, I love her. People please do not kill these spiders pictured they are harmless!
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Wrong picture -that yellow spider us awesome if not said there more useful than most spiders to catch annoying bugs and are safer than a mosquito
December 11th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
You don’t…need…to kill it. This isn’t a banana spider, this is a golden orb weaver HARMLESS and not aggressive. You can keep these ones as pets – they building a web in the corner of the room and take care of flies and other pests, and are beautiful spiders. If it was a genuine Brazilian wandering spider, which is MORE venomous than black widow, then there are plenty of zoos and spider keepers out there more than willing to take it in.