Tarantulas have taken over a town in Australia (Picture: (File picture)

If you are scared of spiders, this is the stuff of nightmares.

More than 25,000 venomous spiders have descended on a small town in Australia and experts have no idea why.

Maningrida, which is 300 miles east of Darwin, is crawling with the creatures.

However arachnologist, Dr Robert Raven, thinks the takeover could provide information invaluable to medical research.


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He said: ‘Normally, I find two or three hundred spiders in one spot.

‘Presumably, something is missing that would hammer them or there is something good [like a food source].



‘It’s one of the beauties of science, being able to say “I don’t know”.’

The good news for the residents of Maningrida the spiders’ venom is not strong enough to kill humans.

The bad news? Well, one of their fangs will rip open your skin… and the venom will make you vomit for between six and eight hours.

Oh good.

While the tarantulas are yet to be officially named, they have been dubbed ‘diving tarantulas’ because of their horrific ability to create air bubbles so that they can survive underwater.

God, we feel all itchy now.

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