Moreover, in the class Arachnida which means eight-legged arthropods, this means that it belongs to a wider species. These include the horseshoe crab (in the order Xiphosura) and the sea scorpion (Eurypterida).
Quoted by SINDOnews from the Live Science page, Wednesday (27/4/2022), there are two spiders that are great contenders for the title of “largest spider in the world”. The largest known spider by mass is the Goliath Birdeater (Theraphosa blondi).
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This spider weighs 170 grams and its body can reach a length of 12 centimeters. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) some grow up to 28 cm, including the length of their legs.
If the size of the largest spider is not the diameter of its leg span, then the largest spider is the Giant hunting spider (Heteropoda maxima) which was discovered in 2001. This spider has a leg span of about 30 cm and a body diameter the size of a dinner plate.
However, when diving into the fossil record, the largest arachnids that ever existed were not spiders, but scorpions. Brontoscorpio anglicus is a scorpion that lived during the Silurian-Devonian era (between 350 million and 450 million years ago) and reached a length of 1 meter.
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These animals are the largest known arachnids, both living and extinct. But if sea scorpions and horseshoe crabs are indeed considered arachnids, then the largest and living ones are no longer spiders, but horseshoe crabs.
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