Did a search on this fairly recent news, and it came up clean... so i'm posting here for everyone.
They show the H.Hercules in the video.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/...t-spider-title-challenged-at-museum99065.html
http://blogs.nature.com/grrlscientist/2011/07/20/worlds-heaviest-spider-title-challenged-at-museum
Boxing gloves were nowhere in sight for a world spider heavy-weight title challenge at the Natural History Museum last month.
The contenders were the Hercules baboon spider, and the current Guinness World Records (GWR) holder for world’s heaviest spider, the Goliath bird-eater.
Museum bug expert George Beccaloni was contacted by GWR life sciences consultant Karl Shuker after reports of a possible rival. Karl asked George if he could check the size of the Hercules baboon spider as the Natural History Museum has the world’s only known specimen and George is the author of the Museum book, Big Bugs Life-Size. The Goliath bird-eating spider rarely eats birds but certainly is goliath in size. © George Beccaloni
GWR Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday came in to adjudicate when George measured the two spiders. Using a jar of alcohol and the Archimedes' Principle, both specimens were submerged to discover the volume of alcohol they displaced, and therefore the volume of their bodies.
Spider specimens are stored in alcohol and this makes their internal organs shrink. The water inside them gets replaced by alcohol, which is about 25% lighter than water. This means that their weight when they were alive would be about 25% greater.
Knowing that they would weigh about 1g per cubic cm when alive means that their weights can easily be calculated if their body volumes are known.
Winning measurements
The female Goliath bird-eating spider specimen measured 69 cubic cm, more than double the volume and therefore the weight of the Hercules baboon spider that measured 22 cubic cm.
So the Goliath bird-eating spider remains the world's heaviest spider species, with the heaviest recorded individual being a 12-year-old captive female called Rosi - according to GWR, it had a body length of 119.4mm and weighed a massive 175g.
My analysis:
The Cephalothorax on the H.Herc is wider than it is long which makes for some crazy proportions (Just look at the picture I posted below, this thing is a monster), no H.Gigas is built like this so there cannot be any in the hobby.
While 1/3 of the weight of the Goliath used, the abdomon on the Hercules is scrawny and undernourished and the Goliath looks plump (22cm cubed vs 69 respectively). The specimen has also been preserved for 100 years so it has lost much of it's mass not to mention that two of the legs are not attached, while the Goliath has been preserved only a few years.
Both appear similar in overall length, so I would say the Hercules could be a very real contender for worlds largest, it would be at least double the weight if in optimal condition so 50 approx vs 69, both animals would be 25% heavier if they were alive.
Zoom in to appreciate this beast, or save the image.
According to the Ceph proportions this is the only picture I can find of a live one, that is well known as official.
All others are fakes.
They show the H.Hercules in the video.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/...t-spider-title-challenged-at-museum99065.html
http://blogs.nature.com/grrlscientist/2011/07/20/worlds-heaviest-spider-title-challenged-at-museum
Boxing gloves were nowhere in sight for a world spider heavy-weight title challenge at the Natural History Museum last month.
The contenders were the Hercules baboon spider, and the current Guinness World Records (GWR) holder for world’s heaviest spider, the Goliath bird-eater.
Museum bug expert George Beccaloni was contacted by GWR life sciences consultant Karl Shuker after reports of a possible rival. Karl asked George if he could check the size of the Hercules baboon spider as the Natural History Museum has the world’s only known specimen and George is the author of the Museum book, Big Bugs Life-Size. The Goliath bird-eating spider rarely eats birds but certainly is goliath in size. © George Beccaloni
GWR Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday came in to adjudicate when George measured the two spiders. Using a jar of alcohol and the Archimedes' Principle, both specimens were submerged to discover the volume of alcohol they displaced, and therefore the volume of their bodies.
Spider specimens are stored in alcohol and this makes their internal organs shrink. The water inside them gets replaced by alcohol, which is about 25% lighter than water. This means that their weight when they were alive would be about 25% greater.
Knowing that they would weigh about 1g per cubic cm when alive means that their weights can easily be calculated if their body volumes are known.
Winning measurements
The female Goliath bird-eating spider specimen measured 69 cubic cm, more than double the volume and therefore the weight of the Hercules baboon spider that measured 22 cubic cm.
So the Goliath bird-eating spider remains the world's heaviest spider species, with the heaviest recorded individual being a 12-year-old captive female called Rosi - according to GWR, it had a body length of 119.4mm and weighed a massive 175g.
My analysis:
The Cephalothorax on the H.Herc is wider than it is long which makes for some crazy proportions (Just look at the picture I posted below, this thing is a monster), no H.Gigas is built like this so there cannot be any in the hobby.
While 1/3 of the weight of the Goliath used, the abdomon on the Hercules is scrawny and undernourished and the Goliath looks plump (22cm cubed vs 69 respectively). The specimen has also been preserved for 100 years so it has lost much of it's mass not to mention that two of the legs are not attached, while the Goliath has been preserved only a few years.
Both appear similar in overall length, so I would say the Hercules could be a very real contender for worlds largest, it would be at least double the weight if in optimal condition so 50 approx vs 69, both animals would be 25% heavier if they were alive.
Zoom in to appreciate this beast, or save the image.
According to the Ceph proportions this is the only picture I can find of a live one, that is well known as official.
All others are fakes.
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I have never heard any of mine use them though...
