A purse spider found in the courtyard of a West Kelowna house.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Ami Bellingham
May 01, 2021 – 8:26 am
A spider, little changed in the past 400 million years, was recently spotted in a West Kelowna backyard.
Ami Bellingham said her son, Keaton Bellingham, 11, kicked a stone in the front yard on April 29, revealing the “disgustingly huge” eight-legged creature.
Her Facebook post, which shared a photo of the spider, caught the attention of Glenrosa residents, who left more than 80 comments on the post.
The spider, about half an inch tall, is a pocket-web spider, said Stuart Brown of the Bug Guys.
READ MORE: Meet the flying beetle that hunts spiders inside BC
“They are a group of spiders that remained relatively unchanged long before the times of the dinosaurs and even the tarantulas,” he said via email.
Purse spiders spend most of their lives underground, forming a thick mat of webbing that fits together like a handbag.
The spiders haven’t undergone drastic evolutionary changes in the past 400 million years other than being smaller than their prehistoric ancestors, Brown said.
READ MORE: 5 Ugly Bugs In The BC Interior You May Want To Keep Track Of
“All spiders are poisonous, but most are harmless. The black widow has the most potent venom found in all BC spiders, but they are still harmless to the vast majority of humans. ”
Wallet spiders are common in the area and are often found by gardeners digging them up, he said.
Currently, Keaton has drilled a few holes in the bottom of a bucket and made a home in them for the spider, Ami said.
For more information on spiders in the Thompson Okanagan area, see the previous iNFOnews story.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Carli Berry or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and take part in a monthly raffle.
We appreciate your comments and opinions on our stories, but play nice. We will not censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, please email the editor using the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2021
