Some more spiders.

Clockwise they are a red knee tarantula, bracypelma smithii. a gasteracantha sp.. A jumping spider, salticus scenicus , and a black widow, latrodectus mactans with egg sac.

And this lot are a crab spider, thomisid sp. A tarantula from Columbia, another tarantula, aphonopelma
seemani, known as the zebra spider and an argiope sp.

Pretty, aren't they. I was never worried when I was photographing these things although the camera lens was usually a couple of centimetres from them, but.I did have one close call. It involved this creature.

It's called sicarius and when people asked me "What's the most dangerous spider," I usually suggested this one. Whereas the venom of the majority of spiders is neurotoxic, meaning it affects the nerves, this bugger is cytotoxic, which goes for tissue. It literally rots the skin and internal tissue. Wounds do not heal. I've seen pictures of a victim with his upper arm and hand normal while his forearm is simply bone.
Although few people get bitten by these things, because their habitat is the deserts of South America and Namibia, those that do rarely survive.
This one, believe it or not, was found in a pet shop in South London. I think most of the stock in the exotic pet trade now is now bred in captivity but when I was collecting a lot was sent in by native collectors who sent anything. I suppose it would be asking too much for a store owner to recognise sicarius but the thought of a kid buying this.....!
Fortunately a friend of mine saw it and recognised it, being very happy to get such a rare specimen. He invited me round to photograph it. It's in a small plastic box and I felt quite happy snapping away, although I have to admit, this isn't the prettiest spider going. In fact it looks evil. So I took my snaps and the spider went back on the shelves. A week or so later I found a scientific paper on sicariuso behaviour. They are actually very docile, hardly ever moving and spend most of the time buried in the sand but what this paper revealed was that they can Jump! It seems they lay their eggs under rocks, etc. and get there by jumping up. If I'd known this monster could jump I'd have gone no where near it. My hand was about two inches from it, for gawd sake!
I'm no Steve Irwin when it comes to handling animals. I never stopped thinking about it for a week.