{"id":280238,"date":"2026-01-12T03:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/280238\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T03:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:07:07","slug":"out-of-the-hole-rushed-the-biggest-spider-i-had-ever-seen-we-were-totally-unprepared-for-the-speed-and-ferocity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/280238\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of the hole rushed the biggest spider I had ever seen. We were totally unprepared for the speed and ferocity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The July morning had dawned crystal clear, so the perfect symmetry of Mount Taygetos stood out with unusual clarity from the barren landscape, says Ben Aldiss. The stunning blue waters of the gulf barely stirred under the cloudless skies \u2013 it promised to be a scorching day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My son Matt, daughter Sofie and I headed up a dry riverbed leading from the coastal town of Kardamyli towards the distant peak of the mountain. On previous camping holidays in the Peloponnese region, we\u2019d seen tell-tale signs of the infamous tarantula \u2013 Lycosa tarantula. But it was here in Kardamyli that I believed we might strike lucky and find one.<\/p>\n

Within minutes, we entered a narrow defile marking the river\u2019s exit from the mountains into the coastal plain. Already the sun was making its impression, and the hot, bleached pebbles shifted and met percussively beneath our feet.<\/p>\n

As noon approached and the temperature reached a scorching 40\u00b0C, we neared our destination \u2013 an open, grassy hillside close to a small derelict monastery. Nearby was an area of patchy, aromatic vegetation called phrygana and, to our excitement, between some of the clumps offragrant lavender we found burrows \u2013 tarantula burrows.<\/p>\n

Discarded exoskeletons surrounded the largest, their dimensions scarily indicative of the power of the adversary lurking within. Delicate strands of silk radiated almost invisibly from the burrow\u2019s mouth \u2013 trip-wires, set taut and ready. I gently stroked one strand with a stick, but we were totally unprepared for the speed and ferocity of the response. <\/p>\n

Out of the hole rushed the biggest wild spider I had ever seen. What\u2019s more, instead of retreating \u2013 as most spiders do \u2013 it unhesitatingly leapt at the stick. Quick as a flash, Sofie clapped a jar over it.<\/p>\n

With its sleek fawn and chocolate livery and distinctive \u2018Land Rover\u2019 eyes, there could be no mistaking the relationship to its relatively tiny British cousin \u2013 the familiar wolf spider. <\/p>\n

Needless to say, we let it go later that day, but not until we\u2019d shown it to the burly owner of our campsite. \u201cImpossible!\u201d he said in his thick Greek accent. \u201cWe don\u2019t get them that big in Greece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Aldiss\u00a0is a ecologist and afellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Entomological Society.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The July morning had dawned crystal clear, so the perfect symmetry of Mount Taygetos stood out with unusual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-280238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115879925687543649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}