The world’s most venomous spider is a frightening creature that’s killed 13 people, with experts warning that it could “kill a toddler in five minutes”.
Of the staggering 43,000 venomous spider species worldwide, the Sydney funnel-web stands out for its lethal bite. What makes this Australian species the deadliest in the world is its swift potential kill time.
Rick Vetter, a retired research associate from the Department of Entomology at the University of California, warned of the spider’s shockingly powerful abilities.
He told Live Science: “The deadliest is probably the funnel-web spider and its relatives. The Sydney funnel-web spider can kill a toddler in about five minutes and a five-year-old in about two hours.”
In 2024, the largest male Sydney funnel-web spider ever documented was discovered in an Australian park. Spider experts measured it at 7.9cm and fittingly named it Hercules.
There have been 13 recorded deaths attributed to funnel-web spider bites, all of which occurred prior to the development of antivenom in 1981.
Despite the alarmingly toxic venom of funnel-web spiders, the threat of dying of a spider bite nowadays is incredibly low.
In 2016, a 22-year-old man passed away after a redback spider bit him – the first death attributed to a spider bite in six decades.
Rod Crawford, the Burke Museum’s arachnid expert at the University of Washington, told the outlet: “True human spider bites of any kind – dangerous or harmless – are vanishingly rare.
“Take me as an example: Over a long career I have handled tens of thousands of live spiders with my bare hands. Only three actual bites resulted; none of the three had any significant effect.
“So when people tell me spiders crawl into their beds at night and bite them while they are asleep, I just roll my eyes.”
Despite the Sydney funnel-web spider’s standing as the most dangerous spider globally, the odds of it causing fatal harm remain slim.