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"Scientist discovers puppy-sized spider in rain forest", ABC 11 Eyewitness News 10/20/2014:

For all readers with arachnophobia, take a moment to collect yourself before proceeding further, because this spider will haunt your dreams.

Harvard Etymologist Piotr Naskrecki recently posted on his blog about an encounter in Guyana's rainforest with a South American Goliath birdeater, a spider so large it's the size of a small dog or puppy. According to Naskreski, "Their leg span approaches 30 cm (nearly a foot) and they weigh up to 170 g."

More of the spider's endearing characteristics:

As Naskrecki describes his encounter with the spider, it truly comes across as the stuff of nightmares. "The spider would start rubbing its hind legs against the hairy abdomen. 'Oh, how cute!', I thought when I first saw this adorable behavior, until a cloud of urticating hair hit my eyeballs, and made me itch and cry for several days." The Etymologist goes into further detail saying the spider was "capable of puncturing a mouse's skull, and would try to jab me with the pointy implements," and that it produced a large hissing sound.

Of course, Piotr Naskrecki is an entomologist rather than an etymologist, and he encountered the Goliath birdeater rather than discovering it (it was known in the early 18th century if not before), but hey, journamalism.

Obligatory screenshot:

[h/t Charles Hallinan]

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