Did giant spiders exist in Prehistoric times?

[megalodon88]

How big were spiders million of years ago? You had giant dragonflies, bees, and sharks how about spiders? If so, how big did they get?

[Mr.United_Nations]

The size of a humans head or around that size. But this was before dinosaurs were big.

[Mentalcase]

We were just discussing this in the Ancient Cover up thread int he alternative History section. Here's a cool link..

120 Million Year Old Spider!

[Ealdwita]

How big were spiders million of years ago? You had giant dragonflies, bees, and sharks how about spiders? If so, how big did they get?

There are actually no giant prehistoric spiders known. Of fossil spiders, small primitive Mesothelids are known as far back as 300 million years. Most of the fossil spiders we have are spiders that got trapped in amber, which is fossilized plant resin, and didn't become common until the cretaceous (140 million years ago). By this time we know that there were orbweavers similar to the ones alive today.

Megarachne servinei from the Pennsylvanian era (300 million years ago) was thought to be a giant spider, with a body about a foot long, but further studies showed that it was actually a Eurypterid, which were giant sea creatures related to the arachnids.

The biggest spider known is alive today, and that's the Goliath bird eater (Theraphosa blondi).

[megalodon88]

Are insect/arachnid fossils alot hard to find than dinosaur ones of the same ages?

[Stardrive]

I read somewhere that it was the higher oxygen content of the atmosphere, at that time, that allowed insects to get so large.

[Mr.United_Nations]

Are insect/arachnid fossils alot hard to find than dinosaur ones of the same ages?

No you if you know where to look. Giant insects was before dinosaurs remmber.

[megalodon88]

What about modern reports? I remember reading somewhere years back (not on the internet, in FATE magazine) about a family who had moved to a remote place in New Mexico. One evening the youngest daughter told the parents she had found a cat and was playing with it. A little while later the parents went looking for her and found her playing underneath the porch with what they thought was the cat. After looking in they realized it was not a cat at all... but a giant, tarantula-like spider. They hauled the girl out of there and never stayed there again.

Edited December 26, 2010 by megalodon88

[Mr.United_Nations]

What about modern reports? I remember reading somewhere years back (not on the internet, in FATE magazine) about a family who had moved to a remote place in New Mexico. One evening the youngest daughter told the parents she had found a cat and was playing with it. A little while later the parents went looking for her and found her playing underneath the porch with what they thought was the cat. After looking in they realized it was not a cat at all... but a giant, tarantula-like spider. They hauled the girl out of there and never stayed there again.

Gloitth bird eating spider, those things are huge.

[ShadowSot]

How the heck do you confuse a cat with a spider?

Sounds more like an urban legend than a real story.

[WoIverine]

Check this one out! This thing looks evil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_huntsman_spider

Supposed to be even bigger than the birdeater spider.

[Mr.United_Nations]

How the heck do you confuse a cat with a spider?

Sounds more like an urban legend than a real story.

I think it was a true story. This year i think or last year.

[Farmerboy]

Check this one out! This thing looks evil.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_huntsman_spiderSupposed to be even bigger than the birdeater spider.

Only larger by legspan, the bird eater is the biggest by mass

[Connor.]

There was a large spider from the Carboniferous on BBC's 'Walking with Monsters', here is a video to check it out.

[Clobhair-cean]

There was a large spider from the Carboniferous on BBC's 'Walking with Monsters', here is a video to check it out.

That's the one ealdwita was talking about. It turned out to have been not a spider but a kind of sea scorpion.

Here's a pretty good article on the subject

[~TheBigK~]

I regret clicking on this thread, and regret searching google images for "biggest spider" even more.

[Setton]

I read somewhere that it was the higher oxygen content of the atmosphere, at that time, that allowed insects to get so large.

Yep that's right. Insects breathe through their skin so when there is more oxygen in the atmosphere, they can grow to larger sizes. There're experiments today growing giant flies in oxygen rich containers.

No you if you know where to look. Giant insects was before dinosaurs remmber.

Actually, they are a lot rarer. Highest preservation potential comes from solid body parts, anoxic conditions and a soft sediment to be buried in. Dinosaurs only usually have solid body parts going for them but spiders have none of these, hence there are fewer spider and insect fossils.

I'm pretty sure there were large prehistoric spiders. I'll check anyway.

EDIT: Sorry, kind of went on a bit there, I'm studying this at uni that's all

Edited February 9, 2011 by Setton

[Mentalcase]

That's a link referring to the "Instute for Creation Research"? Sure thing, dude, that's a solid article lol.

Ok, how bout this one then. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/spider-fossil/

Same exact article.

[TheLastLazyGun]

WARNING: PHOTOS OF VERY LARGE SPIDERS BELOW

Don't get confused between spiders and insects. Spiders are not insects. They are the largest arachnids. There are 100,000 known species of arachnid, including scorpions, harvestmen, ticks, mites and Solifugae.

There are thought to be around two trillion, two hundred billion spiders - 650 species - in Britain alone and they are found all over the planet except Antarctica.

The oldest known arachnid is the trigonotarbid Palaeotarbus jerami, from about 420 million years ago in the Silurian period.

The largest known spider ever to have existed is Megarachne servinei (below) which lived in what is now South America 300 million years ago. It had huge shovel-like jaws, possibly for digging into soil or deep leaf mould.

It was 16 inches long and had a leg span of almost TWO FEET!!

The largest known spider today, by mass, is the Goliath bird eating spider (Theraphosa blondi). It can get up to a whopping one foot in diameter.

The spider gets its name from reports of explorers from the Victorian era, who witnessed them eating hummingbirds.

The world's largest spider by legspan is the giant huntsman spider (Heteropoda maxima) of Laos, which can have a legspan of one foot. It was discovered in 2001.

Edited May 13, 2012 by TheLastLazyGun

[Mentalcase]

OMG CREEPY!!

[Clobhair-cean]

Actually, Megarachne servinei, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a smallish sea scorpion and not a spider.

[Philt]

Check this one out! This thing looks evil.

http://en.wikipedia....huntsman_spider

Supposed to be even bigger than the birdeater spider.

I was bitten on the finger by a huge Huntsman Spider hurt like buggery...........mind you I was the last thing he got his fangs into coz i squashed him quick smart.

[Orcseeker]

We were just discussing this in the Ancient Cover up thread int he alternative History section. Here's a cool link..

120 Million Year Old Spider!

Found it to be quite a biased article. Discreetly having a go at evolution and even throwing the mention of Noah's flood in there. Hehe creationists.

[Mentalcase]

Found it to be quite a biased article. Discreetly having a go at evolution and even throwing the mention of Noah's flood in there. Hehe creationists.

Yes I see. I'm not even religious by any means (must have only read a bit of that article.). The facts that are in there are also in the better version of the article from wired.com posted above. Someone twisted around the words!

[Mentalcase]

I'll post it again orcseeker. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/spider-fossil/

Seems they used this real article as a reference.