They’re like the gangster of the spider world, big, brutish, hairy and downright scary. The kind of spider you wouldn’t want to bump into in a dark alley. Mess with the Sydney Funnel Web Spider and you could find yourself going home in body bag.
Admittedly this spider has a bad reputation and we’re really not helping here. So, appearances and gangster reputation aside, they pretty impressive creatures. Their signature is a set of thick fangs, which would make Dracula blush.
The fangs are made of made of chitin, the same material that makes up the exoskeleton of spiders, crustaceans and a host of other animals. They’re used to puncture holes into their prey and deliver venom.
Because the curved fangs are hinged from back to front (and not side to side like most spiders) it has to rear up to unfold them, which not only looks pretty spectacular, it allows them to easily penetrate their prey.
The curve of the fangs also adds strength, but if they so happen to break them in an epic battle they can simply replace them next time the spider moults as the fangs moult too.
And just when you think these fangs couldn’t be more awesome, it turns out they’re not just your average fangs for stabbing, injecting venom, and killing stuff. They can use them for digging burrows in the ground, cutting silk threads when they’re laying tripwires and for delivering the final blow and crushing prey, which we think is utterly fangtastic…
