Trivia

Giant crab spiders have such a ferocious appearance they earned a spot as extras in the horror film Arachnophobia. The creatures, however, eat cockroaches, crickets, and caterpillars, more than compensating for their scary appearance.

The Giant Crab Spider is in the family Sparassidae. The spiders in this family are large, 3/8-1" (10-25 mm) long, and named for their crablike legs. They somewhat resemble crab spiders of the family Thomisidae but are larger and have a soft, 3-lobed membrane at the end of the sixth joint of each leg, which gives the foot an extra extension. Like crab spiders, giant crab spiders have 2 claws at the tip of each tarsus. Each fang folds into a distinct groove that is armed with teeth. The 8 eyes are arranged in 2 rows of 4 eyes each. Mostly tropical spiders, they are found in North America only in the U.S. Southwest and Florida. The group was previously known as Family Heteropodidae.