Researchers say they used anatomical and DNA comparisons to study different populations of the Sydney funnel-web spider – one of the world’s deadliest spiders – and found there were three species, only two of which were previously known to science.

“The Newcastle funnel-web, Atrax christenseni— dubbed Big Boy—is a totally new species. The ‘true’ Sydney Funnel-web, Atrax robustus centres on the North Shore of Sydney and the Central Coast, and the Southern Sydney Funnel-web, Atrax montanus, is a resurrected species name from 1914,” Loria explained.

There are several genera of funnel web spiders, but the most common ones in Australia are Atrax, Hadronyche, and Illawarra. They vary in size and color, usually black or brown, with shiny carapaces. The males are generally smaller and less robust than the females.

An international team of scientists has revised the classification of Australia's most famous spider. With a bite more deadly to humans than that of any other spider, the iconic Sydney funnel-web has long been considered a single species,

Now scientists in Australia have discovered a new funnel-web spider which is even bigger and more venomous. Kane Christensen is behind the discovery and says "its venom glands are a lot larger and its fangs are a lot longer". The new species has been named Atrax christenseni after the man that discovered it.

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

Scientists from Australia and Germany have classified a new, highly venomous species of spider, Atrax christenseni, known as Big Boy. It is very large and highly venomous, with bites that can be fatal.

Australia's reputation for venomous spiders comes partly from the deadly Sydney funnel-web. It turns out there is not just one species, there are three.

A new bigger and more dangerous version of the world's deadliest spider, the funnel web, has been identified in the land down under – and it even has longer fangs and more venom