A 10-km flood plain in Australia's Northern Territory is infested with 25,000 tarantulas, media reported on Tuesday.
The venom of the tarantulas found in Northern Territory's remote Maningrida region, is powerful enough to kill a tiny animal and strong enough to induce nausea and vomiting in humans without being fatal, reported the Canberra Times.
According to arachnologist (spider specialist) Robert Raven, such a high concentration of spider was "so far off the scale, it's unbelievable. Normally, I find two or three hundred spiders in one spot."
"Presumably, something is missing that would hammer them or there is something good (like a food source)," Raven said, adding, "the tarantulas could have medical applications".
The burrow-dwelling spiders, known as diving tarantulas, cannot be drowned. They create air bubbles to survive when the plain is under water during the wet season.
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Discovered in 2006, the tarantulas are yet to be given a scientific name.
--Indo-Asian News Service
da/ksk/py/vt
