By Shreya Dasgupta The Sydney funnel-web spider, a highly venomous arachnid found crawling in and around Australia’s most populous city, was long thought to be a single species. But it’s actually three different species,

Scientists in Australia have discovered a ‘giant’ species of Sydney funnel-web spider, one of the world’s deadliest. Nicknamed ‘Big Boy’, the species was originally found by Kane Christensen, a spider enthusiast and ex-head of spiders at the Australian Reptile Park. in the early 2000s near Newcastle, 170 km north of Sydney.

The first person to discover the Aussie spider, Kane Christensen, has warned people not to approach it, citing its massive fangs and glands that produce 'copious amounts of venom'

SYDNEY : Australian scientists have discovered a bigger, more venomous species of the Sydney funnel-web spider, one of the world’s deadliest.

Atrax christenseni, after noticing differences in spiders from the Newcastle area, marking a significant contribution to arachnology.

A larger and more venomous species of one of the world's deadliest spiders has been confirmed by Australian scientists. Nicknamed 'big boy', it can grow up to 9cm (3.54 inches) compared with 5cm (1.97 inches) for the more common Sydney funnel-web.

They say good things come in threes—but is that true even for the most venomous spider in the world? Scientists in Germany and Australia have reclassified one of the world’s most infamous arachnids. In their research,

Not everybody would be thrilled about having a newly discovered, plus-size species of deadly spider named after them—but not everybody is as big a fan of Sydney funnel-web spiders as Kane Christensen.