An ancient spider the size of a dog?

[dragonblade71]

Some time ago, on this very forum, someone mentioned about a spider that lived in prehistoric or near-prehistoric time that was enormous in size. The poster described it as the size of a dog! Would any of you know the genus or species name or even the time period that this beast lived in?

 

[reverendsterlin]

from wikipedia Megarachne servinei was an Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) eurypterid found near Córdoba, Argentina. Its leg span was 50 cm (20 inches)[citation needed]. When initially discovered it was incorrectly believed to be a giant spider, the biggest that ever existed. This caused serious error in scripting of the CGI television series Walking with Monsters. The series was already in production when the correct classification of Megarachne was made (in 2004[citation needed]), making it too late to correct the error. So instead, the name was changed with the giant spider simply referred to as Mesothelae. Mesothelae is in fact a suborder of primitive spiders with segmented abdomens, and look nothing like what was visualised in the television series.

Rev

 

[Godzirra]

I just looked online (though it might not be what you are looking for), but everything sent me to 'Mesothelae'.

There was a bbc documentary called 'Walking with Monsters ', which featured Mesothelae (claiming to have been the size of a human head?).
here is the part
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdVF9tU9Bbs

 

[Godzirra]

Mesothelae is in fact a suborder of primitive spiders with segmented abdomens, and look nothing like what was visualised in the television series.

Rev

oh

still cool to imagine though,

 

[dragonblade71]

Ah...I found the post. It was written by Feathers who states:

“I remember watching a BBC special on dinosaurs; it showed a spider the size of a dog and a pretty formidable one at that - nothing I'd want coming after me. I don't have a clue about Theraphosidae in the fossil record, yet they are a primitive family within the Araneae - I would assume there would have to be a cradle of tarantulas, but what part of Pangea this took place in is pure speculation. I would think we'd be talking convergent evolution, regarding new world Ts, but I could be off track. It's all some pretty interesting food for thought.”

Though Drachenjager pointed out that this creature is now thought to be not a spider but a euryptid. I guess it must resemble a spider in appearance. I'll look for more info on Google.

Edit: Ah thanks for that, Godzirra and Reverendsterlin! I guess you were typing while I was posting. Hmmmm...50cm leg span? I guess the size of a small dog then!

 

[PhilR]

The paper on the true identity of Megarachne, by Dr. Paul Selden et. al is available here