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Underground > Laboratory >

White Spiders

21:53 / 03.06.02

First off, I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and I am an Urban Explorer.

Now, I was in a local storm drain a few days ago and came across a very different spider.
The spider -- I think it is was a spider -- was located deep into the drain, maybe two miles or so, in one of the darkest places.
It was when my friend pointed up at the wall in a manhole chamber and said to me "look at that," I saw this strange little creature. It looked like a giant white molecule, just sitting there. At first we were not sure if it was alive, if it was some kind of egg sacks or if it was something someone had dropped into a flood box. A few moments later our third travel companion came up to the area where we were and decided that he would blow on this little thing. So he did, it moved. At this point we decided to try to take a photograph and then get the heck out -- I mind you we were in a five foot pipe with this and only had one way out. After we took a picture we noticed that there were a few of these things in this chamber, so we quickly made our exit.

When we were finally top side we thought, "why didn't we capture one?" and then realized that all of us had images of an even bigger spider galloping down the tunnel collecting all these little guys on to its body, making it the size of us. Suffice to say, we were scared.

At any rate, I will give a description so that you may get a better idea of what I am talking about.
The spiders(?) were about 2inches wide, and had one main "body" which was a white ball. From that white ball there were thin legs, eight of them, which led to another white ball and then another. So the image you get is that of a Daddy Long Leg -- not even a spider -- with bloated joints.
None of us got really close to this thing, but I found ONE thing about them online, which was a description of one. the woman who found it said it appeared to have no eyes and be covered in a sugar or velvet substance.

Has anyone ever seen this? Or heard of it?

When I get the photographs back I will send them to a Entomologist, and then all questions will be answered, or something like that.

22:09 / 03.06.02

hmm.. coated in sugar... maybe you should have eaten one for instant access to the mothership?

04:27 / 04.06.02

...wouldn't know the name, per se though I have seen a white spider before. If you have an unimaginitive and yet heroic one in your bunch, have them capture it or take a picture. Sound interesting nonetheless. You come across some flushed white strains of marijuana?

08:53 / 04.06.02

Um, it isn't the kind of sewer where you'd find waste like that -- it is a Storm Sewer, for rain water and the like.

Anyhow, I have the picture of it online and all that nice stuff now.
You can find it here. I know it isn't the best picture, but the guy who took it was afraid that it would suddenly grow ten inches and pounce off the wall into his eyes.

Now, tell me what this thing is!

Less searchable M0rd4nt

09:31 / 04.06.02

The only place I've been able to find a mention of white spiders was a plug for a national park in the States (Kentucky, I think.) They live in the caves there.

18:28 / 04.06.02

Was the head separated from the abdomen?

Here's a page on harvestmen.

20:06 / 04.06.02

It appears that you have discovered a giant slab of concrete. Where's the spider in that picture?

22:00 / 04.06.02

It appears that you have discovered a giant slab of concrete. Where's the spider in that picture?

The spider is the little white critter towards the left of the photo. The one that's gloating loudly about how our photographer is terrified to get any closer to it.

Also, I'm sure it wasn't a harvestman, since it had a web.

Thanks for everyone's input so far.

03:33 / 05.06.02

I am sitting here with one schooled in such matters (my fiance) who has a few questions:

1. Are you sure it had 8 legs?
2. Was it 2 inches across the body or from leg tip to leg tip?
3. What kind of lighting were you using to look at it? (I'm told it can make a difference in coloration)

He says that it's entirely possible that this critter would have no eyes if it is in fact cave dwelling, as it would have no use for them. If you have clearer picture or a better description, he can also contact professors and get a more definite answer.

05:04 / 05.06.02

1. Are you sure it had 8 legs?

I remember being fairly certain of it at the time, although it's not totally clear in that photo. It struck me as a spider before anything else, though -- there wasn't really a "what is it, anyway" stage involved.

So no, I'm not sure, but I'd be comfortable putting ten dollars on it.

2. Was it 2 inches across the body or from leg tip to leg tip?

This would be from leg tip to leg tip. It's probably closer to one and a half, actually. I'm estimating this because we never saw one fully spread out.

3. What kind of lighting were you using to look at it? (I'm told it can make a difference in coloration)

I was carrying a white LED flashlight when I found the first group of three, which gives things a blue tint. Later we looked at it under a mag-lite which is a much more "sunny" colour, due to the incandescent bulb. The photo itself was lit by my LED light and a camera flash. Under every light source it appeared to be pure white.

I'd be very interested in finding out that this is a specialized, underground adaptation. There's not really a lot of formal scientific inquiry into lifeforms that may have adapted to live in the nooks and crannies created by urban infrastructure (at least around here) and I think it's a very nifty field.

That's our only photo, although we're considering going back this weekend to take more or try to capture one. The other description I mentioned is here. She describes what we saw pretty much perfectly. Note however that I'm in Ontario, not Ohio as that woman is. In a follow-up she says:
I had a closer look at these guys and the white appears to be like fuzzy hairs. I have yet to see any eyes.

Thanks, and I hope this helps.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

12:12 / 05.06.02

i have seen things like this in the caves and caverns where i grew up in upstate NY
all i could find was that they were likely a cave dwelling spider who never saw light, so were quite pale and had no eyes to speak of

15:22 / 05.06.02

I can't see the pic and I really want to see the white spider!

Can I ask about giant moths or would that be totally off-topic?

16:26 / 01.07.02

*bump*

No further news on an identification of this creepy-crawly?

20:57 / 01.07.02

My conclusion was that he found an unidentified species.

18:14 / 02.07.02

Either that or a weird mutated variant of an existing one - then again, while I'm willing to believe 'normal' spiders could've gone albino, the knobbed, swollen joints are new to me...