Assassin Spider of Madagascar

With its fearsome appearance, poisonous bite, and deadly hunting skill, this newly discovered creature lives up to its name: assassin spider.

Researchers working in Madagascar  discovered this and eight other species of assassin spiders—a family of arachnids that feast on other eight-leggers—during a four-year survey of the island nation's forests.

The scientists say these spiders (discovered in 2006) are exquisitely evolved—if grotesque-looking—killers.

The spiders stab their prey with their giant jaws, which are barbed at the ends with venomous fangs. To be able to lift their outsized jaws, the assassins evolved elongated necks, giving the spiders a unique ability to strike from a distance                                              Arachnophobes can relax: Assassin spiders are a mere eighth of an inch (two millimetres) long and are harmless to humans, An 1/8 of an inch, Jeez no wonder it took 4 years to find them.