Spiders

[missismiggins]

Got a "new" spider residing here at the minute, never seen nything like it before ( I think the Thais call it "meng gaowl" like glass?)

It is sort of dark and silver, and in the daytime draws its legs together, so it appears to have only four legs, instead of eight. The front two pairs are pulled together, and the rear two pairs are pulled together, weird! Night time...as in Thailand it spreads it's legs and looks like a normal spider.

It also has a long "nose" like a straw that protrudes from its head about a 1/4 inch... the whole thing is about 3 inches across...any ideas if it is dodgy or what?

As usual, when I ask a local, regardless, snake beetle spider, they all reply with "poisonous"...9 times out of 10 when I look them up, they are wrong and the critter is harmless...any ideas?

[nidge]

have a picture?

[lazeeboy]

Got a "new" spider residing here at the minute, never seen nything like it before ( I think the Thais call it "meng gaowl" like glass?)

It is sort of dark and silver, and in the daytime draws its legs together, so it appears to have only four legs, instead of eight. The front two pairs are pulled together, and the rear two pairs are pulled together, weird! Night time...as in Thailand it spreads it's legs and looks like a normal spider.

It also has a long "nose" like a straw that protrudes from its head about a 1/4 inch... the whole thing is about 3 inches across...any ideas if it is dodgy or what?

As usual, when I ask a local, regardless, snake beetle spider, they all reply with "poisonous"...9 times out of 10 when I look them up, they are wrong and the critter is harmless...any ideas?

3 inches across ,wouldnt want that in my house

[missismiggins]

have a picture?

Not yet it got too dark, tomorrow I will give it a try.

[robbiecia]

A spider of that size will have some big fangs

I wouldn't touch it............sounds dodgy to me

snakes, bugs, rodents don't bother me too much...................but big spiders scare the s@it out of me

[Farma]

You might find a photo of one here that will give an idea of the spider. http://thaibugs.com/spiders1.htm

[Lucifer]

Spiders and snakes come in two categories.......eek and <deleted>*king big eek

[missismiggins]

OK. hopefully I got a picture!

Any ideas?

[missismiggins]

A spider of that size will have some big fangs

I wouldn't touch it............sounds dodgy to me

snakes, bugs, rodents don't bother me too much...................but big spiders scare the s@it out of me

That's the weird thing, it doesn't seem to have fangs, nor does it appear aggressive, but the Thais tell not to go near it?

It just sits there all day and all night, if it is harmless, I will leave it alone...else....plan B!

[missismiggins]

You might find a photo of one here that will give an idea of the spider. http://thaibugs.com/spiders1.htm

Thanks for that link, there are a few on their that look similar, however, the descriptions don't seem to point to venemous or not, cheers for that!

[Rimmer]

He looks like a St. Andrews Cross spider, I had one in my pussy cat cage, beautiful web.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/spiders.html.

[monty]

Think it belongs to the genus Argiope. They seem to position their legs in this particular X shape.

They have a species in that genus called St. Andrew's Cross (argiope aetherea) in Australia because of the habit of resting in their web with their legs in the X shape... Only that one doesn't grow that big.

Another thing indicating it belongs to the above genus is the bright coloring visible in your picture.

Non poisonous to humans BTW...

[tijnebijn]

Spiders and snakes come in two categories.......eek and <deleted>*king big eek

Eek is a member on thaivisa , what you said you wanted to do with her ?

[dingdongrb]

If it's one from the Argiope family it appears that it is harmless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_(spider)

[monty]

Looks like this one, the females get several times bigger then the males:

Argiope keyserlingi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Argiope_keyserlingi.jpg

Gets the same nickname St. Andrews Cross spider...

[rambrutri]

Spotted this French spider at the weekend. Not poisonous but did spray me with very cold water.