Man gets the fright of his life after looking down to see ‘Titanic’ spider from hell dubbed ‘Jumbo’ crawling up his leg
- A New South Wales man has had a close encounter with a mammoth black spider
- Paul Bourke posted two images of the spider on his boot to social media page
- Many were left wondering what type of spider Mr Bourke had encountered
A man was scared stiff when he looked down at his shoe to discover a huge spider which had decided to start climbing up his leg.
Paul Bourke, from Berowra, in NSW, posted two photos of the close encounter to Facebook asking if he ‘should be worried’.
Instantly a number of other social media users responded to the post dubbing the spider ‘Jumbo’ and comparing it to the ‘Titanic’.
New South Wales man Paul Bourke got the fright of his life when he looked down to see a massive spider crawling up his leg near Berowra (pictured)
‘Nuke it from orbit. Only way to be sure,’ one user joked.
‘Set the boots on fire,’ another added.
‘Lucky for those boots,’ another replied.
The social media users were also split as to what type of spider it could be.
‘Is the consensus that this is funnel web?!’ a curious user replied.
‘Mightn’t be a funnel web, can’t see spinnerets. But it sure looks like one,’ another wrote.
‘Could be a mouse spider!!’ a third chimed in.
Alan Henderson, from Minibeast Wildlife, told Daily Mail Australia the spider wasn’t a mouse Spider or a funnel web spider.
‘It is a trapdoor spider and looks to be in the genus arbanitis,’ Mr Henderson said.
‘The colour can vary quite a bit.’
Mr Henderson said the species of spider was relatively harmless.
Mr Bourke took to social media to share the image of his encounter and asked if he should be worried, some comments thought it was either a funnel web or mouse spider but it turned out to be neither
‘It’s very common for people to encounter them while gardening and construction work, earthworks etc.
‘They are quite common and relatively harmless. Lots of different species of trapdoors are found throughout Australia.’
He said it was also common for people to want to identify spiders they come across and as a result they created a spider identification app, Spidentify.
‘Unfortunately there’s so much misinformation out there about our native spiders. We’re told they chase and attack us, they’ve got flesh-eating bites,’ Mr Henderson said.
‘These myths spread like wildfire.
‘So many tourists come to Australia really concerned about our spiders. Spidentify will be really helpful for many international visitors.’
The Spidentify app is also a traditional field guide, where users can browse by categories including geographical region, spider family and habitat.
Alan Henderson, from Minibeast Wildlife, told Daily Mail Australia the beast was actually a trapdoor spider that the man encountered which he said was a common occurrence