News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

More than 25,000 venomous spiders have descended upon a small town – leaving experts baffled and arachnophobes terrified.

It is unknown why the brand new species of tarantula has taken such a liking to Maningrida, Australia.

The town – found 300 miles east of Darwin – is crawling with the eight-legged freaks.

Arachnologist, Dr Robert Raven, however, thinks the town's hostile takeover could be invaluable to medical research .

“Normally, I find two or three hundred spiders in one spot,” he said.

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

He added: "It's one of the beauties of science, being able to say 'I don't know'."

Fortunately for the – surely – doomed town of Maningrida, the spiders are not venomous enough to kill humans.

(Image: Queensland Museum)

"One of the traditional owners was bitten in eastern Australia and had six to eight hours of vomiting," Dr Raven said.

The spider expert did suggest, however, that bites from the beasts could be painful and do damage beyond the venom.

He concludes: "These are not shallow bites. Long fangs can potentially do damage by ripping tissue."

While the tarantulas are yet to be officially named, they have been dubbed 'diving tarantulas' after their ability to create air bubbles to survive underwater.

Dr Raven is now looking for some poor souls to go and research the tarantula in the Australian town.

And, when asked why he didn't want to continue the research himself, he said: "Someone young can take over, you'd need to be able to run."

Though he did suggest the running was for "buffalos and pigs" as opposed to the venomous spiders.

Yeah, right.