Was in banana box

Venomous giant spider: alarm in supermarket

As the name suggests, giant crab spiders can reach considerable sizes.

(Bild: JonRichfield CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A sight that is likely to awaken the primal fears of many supermarket visitors. In the German town of Prerow (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), an employee discovered a poisonous giant spider in a banana box.

This was certainly not how the supermarket staff had imagined the week would start. At around 8.30 a.m. on Monday morning, one of them made the discovery: a giant crab spider appeared in a box filled with bananas.

The animal was still crawling around, but the man managed to catch the poisonous giant spider and raise the alarm. The emergency services were on the scene shortly afterwards. The police seized the stowaway and took it to the official vet. Fortunately, no one was bitten during the operation.

Almost as big as a sheet of A4 paper
The occurrence of giant crab spiders in banana boxes is relatively rare, but not entirely unusual, especially in countries where bananas and other tropical fruits are imported. They are common worldwide, but reach considerable sizes, especially in the subtropics and tropics - we are talking about a body length of 10 to 15 centimeters and a leg span of up to 30 centimeters.

Bites from larger species can cause headaches and muscle pain due to the spider venom injected by the animals.