Ten of the Worlds Rarest and Most Unusual Spiders

All spiders are pretty much the same right? They are all 8 legs, fangs and super scary. But that is not the case with all of them. In fact, some spiders are not only strangely cute, but some of them don’t look like spiders at all! Today we are taking a look at ten of the worlds rarest and most unusual spiders that you might not find in the corners of your home, but they are all real and all very fascinating…

Deserta Grande Wolf Spider (Hogna ingens)

They might look like any other spider, but these are some of the rarest spiders on earth. In fact, they have only just been bred in captivity for the 2nd time. Their main threat is the spread of a particular type of grass that covers soil and rocks making micro habits beneath them harder for the spiders to access.

Chinese Hourglass Spider (Cyclocosmia truncata)

The Chinese hourglass spider is extremely rare and doesn’t spin webs. Instead, it lives in nests under the ground and blocks the entrance of that nest with its large “stamp” abdomen.

The Strawberry Spider (Araneus alsine)

While this spider does mainly inhabit forests clearings and swampy bogs you can easily see why someone might mistake it for a piece of fruit. But I promise you it doesn’t taste even half as tasty.

Hawaiian Happy-face Spider (Theridion grallator)

Also known as the Clown Faced Spider, this rather spooky looking spider would probably go unnoticed at Halloween time, but unique patterns superimposed on its abdomen are not its only trick, it also has the ability to change colour simply by eating different plants!

Patu digua Spider (Patu digua)

Many people with Arachnophobia fear they will get eaten alive by spiders, but not if those spiders are Patu digua Spiders. Because at just 0.37 mm fully grown they are thought to be the smallest species of spider of record.

White Crab Spider (Misumena vatia)

The White Crab spider is one of 27 species of crab spider and while amazing to look at it also have the ability to alter the colour of its body to match its surroundings and to hide from prey.

Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans)

The bright-green lynx spider is usually found on green plants which does make it even harder to take note of their numbers. These spiders can also have the ability to squirt venom from their fangs up to 3 feet away!

Peacock Spider (Maratus volans)

No list of amazing spiders would be complete without one of the worlds most colourful and dare I say cutest spiders. This little jumping spider has a very specialized visual system that allows them to see the full visible spectrum as well as in the UV range very much like the predator alien from the movies!

The Bunny Harvestman Spider (Metagryne bicolumnata)

When professional photographer Andreas Kay can across this spider in Ecuador you would forgive him for seeing a spider with what looks like a dogs head! But this daddy longlegged spider has been around for at least 400 million years and lived even before the dinosaurs!

Pelican Spider (Archaea levigata)

While pretty common in Madagascar and Australia this very unusual spider really does look like a tiny pelican. And I say tiny because it doesn’t grow much more than a few millimetres even when fully grown. What is also strange about this crazy looking spider is that they were first known from 40 million-year-old amber fossils which were found in Europe in the 1840s!

Do you know of any other spiders that should have made this list? If you do or just hate spiders (even these ones) do let us know in the comments below.