Scientists name new species of ‘unusually large’ spider in Australia ‘Big Boy’
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New species of funnel-web spider found in Newcastle has been dubbed ‘Big Boy’. Scientists in Australia say a group of “unusually large” funnel-web spiders is actually a new species in its own right. Researchers say they used anatomical and DNA comparisons to study different populations of the Sydney funnel-web spider and found there were three species, only two of which were previously known to science.
![[New ‘Big Boy’ funnel-web spider species Atrax christenseni]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/09/Screenshot-2025-01-14-at-2.52.16%E2%80%AFPM.jpg)
The study revealed the “hidden diversity among funnel-web spiders”, said arachnologist Stephanie Loria from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change in Germany. The “classic” Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, is found from the Central Coast to the Sydney Basin; the Southern Sydney funnel-web, Atrax montanus, is common in the Blue Mountains south and west of Sydney; and the Newcastle funnel-web, which has now been dubbed the “Big Boy” for being the largest of the three, inhabits the city of Newcastle.
“The Newcastle funnel-web, Atrax christenseni – ‘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 while the Southern Sydney funnel-web is a resurrected species name from 1914,” Dr Loria said.
The Latin name for the Big Boy species is derived from the Newcastle spider enthusiast Kane Christensen, who brought it to the attention of the research team. The study was launched after Mr Christensen, based at the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales, collected a number of “unusually large male funnel-web spiders” as part of a venom programme, researchers say.
