What in the world is THIS ?!?!

[Fmkehoe]

Does anyone have any idea what this is ?

 

[Poonjab]

Egg sac

 

[Tarantulafeets]

Looks like a type of fungi growing out of a spider.

 

[chanda]

That appears to be a spider - possibly a cellar spider - infected with Torrubiella pulvinata or another entomopathogenic fungus.

Examples here: https://www.uksafari.com/curse_of_the_zombie_spiders.htm

 

[darkness975]

That appears to be a spider - possibly a cellar spider - infected with Torrubiella pulvinata or another entomopathogenic fungus.

Examples here: https://www.uksafari.com/curse_of_the_zombie_spiders.htm

This is utterly terrifying. I had forgotten how horrible this is until now.

 

[Fmkehoe]

OK, thank you, what do I do with it? I don’t wanna smash it and have some sort of alien bore through my chest.

 

[Fmkehoe]

That appears to be a spider - possibly a cellar spider - infected with Torrubiella pulvinata or another entomopathogenic fungus.

Examples here: https://www.uksafari.com/curse_of_the_zombie_spiders.htm

And yes it is in a not quite cellar, but a crawlspace.

 

[Fmkehoe]

And yes it is in a not quite cellar, but a crawlspace.

Just looked up your thoughts. It definitely is a fungus ridden spider. I will try to capture it in a glass jar with a cover. I’ll let tarantulas walk all over me, but this thing just freaks me out.

 

[VaporRyder]

D

 

[The Snark]

Had an interesting discussion a while back with our local entomologist. He contended that this fungus is most likely transmitted by the prey the spider catches and not through air circulation.
This coincides with the odd phenomenon noted in structure fires where corners where ceilings meet walls are often untouched by the fire or smoke. Virtually no air circulation. Thus the reason you should never put smoke detectors in corners.

I saw this phenomenon once. We did a successful knock down of a structure fire. A free burner that blasted through the gypsum wall board ceiling into the attic and cooked off the entire roof. But where ceiling met walls in the incipient room there was this white band about 6 inches from the corner on ceiling and walls all the way around the room of untouched paint. That wall board had a 15 or 30 minute fire rating, 5/8ths inch thick I believe, so the fire had ample opportunity. Fires and convection can be very weird. Took the roof off the house but the back bedrooms were untouched. (Kudos for wet water and 2 1/2 attack lines.)

 

[Edan bandoot]

OK, thank you, what do I do with it? I don’t wanna smash it and have some sort of alien bore through my chest.

Eat it