Strange Rare Spider Discovered by a Farmer in China: Fact Check

Story:

Farmer Man in China Finds a Strange Spider in his Yard before Realizing what he’s actually Looking at.

Other Versions

Rare Chinese Hourglass Spider Discovered by a stunned farmer in his yard.

Fact Check:

A story seen quite often online claims to show the picture of a strange and rare Spider that was allegedly discovered by a farmer in his yard. Yes, the claims about the rare Chinese Hourglass Spider are true and the farmer was in fact stunned at the discovery.

Discovery of the Strange Spider by Farmer in China

In November 2016 in Pujiang village near Chengdu of South-West China, orange farmer Li Wenhua happened to see in his yard what he initially thought was an antique material. Then the creepy-crawly started to move; scaring and surprising him. The rare spider known later to be Chinese Hourglass Spider had an unusual disc shaped abdomen as can be seen in pictures. Li Wenhua told about the discovery to his neighbors and later searched internet to learn how rare and valuable the Spider can be. Later, insect expert Zhao Li said the rare Chinese Hourglass Spider has high value in scientific research and dates back to as far as the fifth century. He also explained it is a type of Trapdoor Spider, and appear rarely because they live underground.

Shown in the video below is a Chinese Hourglass Spider capturing a Cockroach given.

Hoax or Fact:

Fact.

References:

Extremely rare ‘Chinese hourglass spider’ discovered by stunned farmer
Chinese hourglass spider featuring a ‘disc’ shape on its belly found by farmer