As brutal as human behavior can sometimes be, it’s honestly nothing compared to what goes on in the animal kingdom.
Any weird or horrific creature that you can think of, it probably exists out there somewhere and you can bet that it’s worse than you think it is.
But one image that has been shared online this week has really shocked the internet with its true visceral horror.
Scientists have discovered a giant fossil of a spider.
And it has given the internet the creeps.
Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) is something that the vast majority of us will admit to having.
Something about the sheer amount of legs (or the creepy way that they use them) gives many of us the heebie-jeebies.
It’s only natural …
There are certain species of spider that can pose a very real threat to human life – though it’s likely that our fears are slightly exaggerated.
Spiders can be cool!
Plus, think about it, if we lived in a world without spiders, the sheer amount of other, smaller insects that would be left to take over without a natural predator really doesn’t bear thinking about.
We all know this feeling.
There’s only one thing worse than seeing a spider – and that’s not seeing a spider that you absolutely know was just there.
In spite of the fact that it’s a pretty irrational fear, spiders just are a bit scary.
Whether you’re fully phobic, or simply slightly creeped out, there are certain spider-related images out there that would pretty much universally terrify.
And every so often, a new spider story takes over online.
The images go viral, and, to be honest, even as a non-arachnophobe, it’s pretty hard to look at. You have been warned.
There’s one site that stands out.
Tasmanian Insects & Spiders is a treasure trove of terrifying images. It’s not restricted only to spiders, but they pretty much dominate the page.
Some of the pictures from the group are actually rather beautiful and show the stunning natural biodiversity of Tasmania through its extensive insect population.
And some are surprisingly majestic – once you get past the initial shudders.
Some members use the group to share images of spiders that they aren’t sure about, asking for experts to help to identify the mystery species.
And some pics weirdly made us want to say “aww.”
There are some that are more of a conventional spider share.
One that seems primarily designed to induce a certain level of pure, unadulterated fear.
The huntsman spider is well known for being a pretty terrifying piece of work, likely because of its enormous size.
But one spider story in particular has shocked the internet this week.
Scientists have found a fossilised giant trapdoor spider in New South Wales!
And it’s only the fourth of its kind ever found.
In the past, this would have been a deadly predator.
In a grassland region known as McGraths Flat.
Experts have named the spider fossil Megamonodontium Mccluskyi.
The spider would have roamed during the Miocene period 11m to 16m years ago.
“Only four spider fossils have ever been found throughout the whole continent, which has made it difficult for scientists to understand their evolutionary history,” said palaeontologist Matthew McCurry.
“That is why this discovery is so significant, it reveals new information about the extinction of spiders and fills a gap in our understanding of the past.”
“The closest living relative of this fossil now lives in wet forests in Singapore through to Papua New Guinea.”
“This suggests that the group once occupied similar environments in mainland Australia but have subsequently gone extinct as Australia became more arid.”
“Scanning electron microscopy allowed us to study minute details of the claws and setae on the spider’s pedipalps, legs and the main body,” said virologist Michael Frese.
Through this technology, they’ve identified the fossil to be most closely related to the trapdoor spider.
But this fossil is around 5 times the size of our modern trapdoor!
With a body over an inch long – yikes!
“Not only is it the largest fossilized spider to be found in Australia but it is the first fossil of the family Barychelidae that has been found worldwide,” said arachnologist Robert Raven.
“There are around 300 species of brush-footed trapdoor spiders alive today, but they don’t seem to become fossils very often.”
“This could be because they spend so much time inside burrows and so aren’t in the right environment to be fossilized.”
You can see the terrifying pics in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.