1. The Cave Spider That Could Rip Your Eyes Out
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
What’s scary about the Trogloraptor marchingtoni isn’t that it’s pretty big for a spider or that it was found right here on our home turf (in a cave in Oregon), it’s that at the end of its six legs are barbed, scythe-like claws. Affectionately called the “cave robber” spider, its body isn’t much bigger than your garden variety spider, but when its legs are extended, it measures one and a half inches wide. And with those claws, entomologists suspect they are more predator than wait-and-grab. Should something touch its legs while dangling from the air, the spider may snap shut and grab its prey. Experts have never seen anything like this spider, which puts the cave robber not only into a new category of species, but in its own family of spiders. Which means there may be more where this came from.
.jpg){kind=link}