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Spiders Of Windsor

A

Anonymous

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:confused:

Does anyone have any further information on the so called Spiders of Windsor that appeared a few weeks back?


The Project ark website:

http://www.project-ark.com/spiders/

has not been updated since the finding.
I am beginning to get a bit cynical about the whole thing.

Any body got any ideas?
 
This is the first time I've heard of these spiders. Most fascinating. There is something about the site, I have to admit, that makes it look too "simple". It will be interesting to see if any more information does come to light.
 
:(
If it is a con it a fairly pointless considering it appears not to have been taken very far at all.

It first appeared in the Guardian and was linked to by this very Website a few weeks back.

Could be a "massive deadly spider shock horror cover up" but thats probably a bit too much like a bad B Movie.

Any thoughts anyone?
 
Hmmm... very interesting. But doesn't it make more sense for it to be an escaped exotic than a brand new endemic species?

Maybe it was a killer spider, kept as a pet by some batty eccentric royal many years ago, which escaped into the grounds. Or maybe it was introduced by some anarchist group, hoping it would bite some member of the royal family.
 
Them damn spiders

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
On the same subject does anyone know if PROJECT ARK itself is actually real or what?
Does anyone know anyone from Project Ark?
Tried emailing them a few weeks ago but got no answer.

I have this warped image of a science lab with the shrivelled corpses of Ark staff and giant webs in the corner... been watching too many B movies again I guess.

I note that as yet nothing has showed up in FT do any of the FT staff have any ideas... this one is really bugging me if you can excuse the pun.
 
I've been in contact with BT...

...And it turns out that this is true. I spoke initially to one Paul Durrell in the press office (08457 262624) and he confirmed it was true and put me onto the London office (020 7356 5369). I spoke to someone there (name unknown) who also confirmed the story was true and promised to get back to me with the name of someone who could tell me more. Apparently it's now considered to be an old story by the BT PR people.

MarkR
 
:eek:
Very interesting indeed....
No word from Project Ark though.

I would have thought that the good people at Fortean Times themselves would have chased this one up themselves.

Maybe they have?

Anyone???
 
Looking at the pictures they appear to be similar in structure to the Black Widow (genus Latrodectus) of which there are brown variants. All are smooth bodied and long-legged. The one in the picture is most likely Latrodectus geometricus, if it is a Latrodectus. Shame we don't see an underside shot since that would clinch it. There are three (southern) European Latrodectii - Latrodectus hystrix,Latrodectus dahli, Latrodectus pallidus.

Their venom is highly neurotoxic (Thanks to Alice for that gem... who says heavy rock rots the brain?)


The domain http://www.project-ark.com was registered by a John Gubba of Marlow,Bucks. The DNS record was created on 21st Jan 2000 and the domain record expires on 21/1/2002

Since I can't see any reference to a corporate owner, it may well be a fake

H 8¬)
 
The Mystery Deepens

:eek:
Well the games afoot now!

I am going to stick my neck out and say that it is quite possible that this story is real.

1. BT themselves claim it is a real story (see above).
2. The spider expert mentioned in the stories (over 30 reports I have found on the net alone) is one Graham Smith. He appears to be well known and has been quoted on quite a few non realted 'spider society' etc web sites. One of which is the Britsh Tarantula Society message board. One user claims to have spoken to Mr Smith who is quoted as saying hat so far they appear to be 'True spiders' similar to Lactrodectus (see above)
3. He runs a company 'metamorphosis' dealing in insects. See http://www.metamorphosis.gb.com/
Now I know cons are common but if it is, the treads are very thin and tenous.
I have emailed Graham Smith via the website above and await his reply.

Is it just me or does anyone else find the fact that our "Green and Pleasent Land" so far pretty much free of scary bity poisonous things may have become home to spiders that are scary poisonous and bity, just a bit jawdropping?

IF it is true surely this is a MAJOR (crypto)zoological find or am I missing something..

Come on Mr Smith (or even FT for that matter) What's the real deal?
 
Personally, I reckon one of the 'royal space lizards' just managed to let their lunch escape..... :D
 
:) :) :) :) :)
Here's an interesting turn of events. Mr Graham Smith replied to my email. Very interesting it is too. Below is his response in full.

Hello Mr Wood,
Sorry for the lack of forth coming info. but due to the fact we have been away on another field trip and the press went a little overboard on the story, I thought it best if we allowed the story to settle whilst we do any other follow up work, so we can supply the facts! At present it looks as if the species is a Meta of some sort ( as was our first thought) but so far no clear confirmation. We have one real good piece of help in that the spiders toxin is being checked out for content which will be of great help for this little known group of spiders ( that is that little is known about this
group rather than this group is little known about, got to watch those quotes now!) I will be sorting out some more photo's soon and would be more than willing to share these with you as well as let you have a full copy of the write up.

Best regards

Graham

So lets sit back and see what happen's. Whatever it is it will be interesting...
 
This is getting dangerously close to research. Please stop it so I can go back to my snuggly little half-arsed assumptions.
 
You're probably right!
The world is a far safer place with snuggly half arsed assumptions. Now where are my rose tinted specs? I'm sure I put them down here somewhere...
Ahh that's better it's all just wake from passing boats and tricks of the light with these fellas on!

You have to keep yourself cheery!!!:)
 
Homer said:
You're probably right!
The world is a far safer place with snuggly half arsed assumptions. Now where are my rose tinted specs? I'm sure I put them down here somewhere...
Ahh that's better it's all just wake from passing boats and tricks of the light with these fellas on!

You have to keep yourself cheery!!!:)

Would those be the ones done by Panza Optics? :D

H 8¬)
 
Well I'm loading up on extra, extra grainy blurry film, packing my wobbly out of focus camcorder and off to deepest darkest Norfolk for a couple of weeks of Yeti hunting (or is black dogs in that neck of the woods?). Mayby I will find one under a bush, next to the truth!


Consequently if the good Mr Smith sends me anything else about our eight legged friends I won't be able to post it until after the August Bank Holiday.
However I am sure you can all contain your excitement (no irony in that of course).

Keep yourselves cheery etc

Homer :cool:
 
they say those spiders are big but i bet their as not as big as those really really big house spiders which will come out soon[which i am dreading]:confused:
 
I'm looking forward to the emergance of the large female Cross spiders (large brown, globular body) which seem to have supplanted the house spider (big black/dark grey, long legs). I'm currently seeing a few immature males...

H
 
Not really got anything to add to this thread, just bumping it back up to the top cos no-one's added to it for ages.

Anyone heard anything about these mysterious arachnids recently?
 
Yeah, what's happening ? There was a flurry of website updating at Project Ark after the news, with some good photos, but it's all gone terribly quiet since. I might e-mail them to find out.

The spiders look like steatoda to me.
 
:eek!!!!:
You know, I'm just waiting for the giant death worms to be found on Brighton beach and thats me finished. I'm off to Tibet to take my chances with the Yetis.

But seriously folks I have emailed Mr Graham Smith (who is researching the Spiders) yesterday to see whats happening. I am awaiting his reply, but I shall not hold my breath as he may well be on another field trip.

As soon as I hear anything new I will post it.

In the mean time I recommend carrying a rolled up newspaper at all times...:)
 
There was a rather unfortunate line break in that article that lead me to read: "Like all spiders it is dark, with the male about three times the size of a house " and think "Oh my god! We're all doomed!"

Then I noticed that the next line began "... fly" and calmed down a bit.
 
Wasn't sure what thread to put my question on so I am putting it here.

Do any of you know much about spiders? Funnel webs to be precise! Only it seems there is a web from one above my nextdoor neaighbours door! Well there was at around 6pm at least. Now "we" know it is from a Funnel Web spider because our nieghbour has seen them when he has been working on ships (cruise ships and such) in the tropics. He works on the tub boats know. He thinks it is highly unusual to have such a spider where we live (the north sea coast is just over a mile away).

So what are the chances of there being a funnel web spider where we live? Must say that the spider itself has not been sighted. Hopefully the web will still be there in the morning so I might take a photo or to of it. I must admit a small part of me is skeptical of a funnel web being so close to where I live.

Can anyone give me any idea's of anything else it might be?

luce
 
There are a whole lot of indigenous british spiders that build funnel shaped webs around holes in walls or in the ground. They hide in their holes and wait for an insect to step on the web, then dash out and grab it. You can sometimes replicate this by gently twanging the web with a blade of grass.

They are not, as far as I know, related to the very poisonous Australian Funnel-Web spider and are certainly not dangerous.
 
they may not be poisonous but they are dangerous ive had 2 in the last 2 days and they are that big they could mug me and my dog at the same time !!!!
the next one i get ill catch and scan in (humainley of course) and show you how big they are thats if they dont beat me to a pulp first lol
casio
 
Perhaps some of you arachnophiles(phobes?) know something about spiders' dinners, ie insects.

I was in Falmouth this afternoon, in unseasonally warm weather. At the entrance to one of the pubs on the quay: there are flowers of some sort growing up both sides of the door, and something was moving there. At first I thought it was a small humming bird (which aren't native round here!) but looking closer it seemed to be some kind of moth. Its wings were just a blur as it hovered at each flower and inserted a long proboscis into it. I've certainly never seen the like in this country before, but then I'm not a great naturalist. The docks were close by, so I did wonder if it might be something exotic which had stowed away on a ship. (I've often encountered small birds and insects well out to sea.)
I just hope the pesky gulls let it alone, the bastards.

Any idea what it was?
 
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