Eating huntsman spider

Question

Am wondering about this episode, from Timothy Bax, Three Sips of Gin:

The three of us had just moved from the bar to an outside courtyard to take advantage of a cool breeze when between us walked a large hunting spider. It was some five inches in diameter with a bulbous yellow backside the size of a squash ball. The [South African] Brigadier took a nimble step backwards warning us to be careful.

“You ‘Rhodesias’ must watch out for those things, they are extremely venomous,” he cautioned keeping a wary eye on the hairy creature.

Ian looked down at the spider as if it were nothing more dangerous than a dung beetle. Bending down he scooped it up in his right hand and popped it into his mouth, swallowing it like a hungry hound might swallow a piece of meat. Then pulling a filthy handkerchief from his pocket, he gave his nose a loud honk that sounded like the blast of a ship’s horn on a foggy night off the Goodwin Sands. “They’re only dangerous if you let them bite you, Brigadier. Eaten, they are a great delicacy,” said Ian nonchalantly, swigging back his beer.

Is this realistic? Surely you would need to at least kill it before swallowing it? Is the venom not dangerous if swallowed?

I assume this was a Huntsman spider, and from limited personal experience from long ago, I believe spiders tend to curl up into a ball when/just before dying, so technically I guess it is possible to swallow it whole.

Answer 1

I think you will find that Timothy Bax is given to a bit of hyperbole.

I did a quick search for spiders in South Africa - and it seems that there are a number of spiders that could potentially fit the description of being ground-dwelling, hunting, large and hairy. There are members of the Tarantula family, which have bulbous abdomens, and generally fit the description quoted above. However, none of the ones I could find for this family are yellow.

So what is the spider in question, and how venomous is it likely to be? Well, there is one common potential species in South Africa that is yellow-ish brown, hunting, and large with a bulbous abdomen. That spider is the Rain spider (Palystes superciliosus) a member of, as you guessed, the Huntsman family. They get up to 110 mm/4" leg-span. They are venomous and have a myth of having quite powerful venom due to a study that used anesthetized guinea pigs - who died of shock from the anesthetic, not the bite.

If you follow the link you will see that they have very long legs relative to the body, so I would suspect that most people would be capable of fitting one in their mouth relatively easily, especially if it were in the legs-drawn-in posture that spiders often assume when frightened. I can't find any record of people eating these as a part of their diet, but I think it is safe to assume that it is possible to do so with no side-effects, as some spider species are eaten in other parts of the world

Answer 2

Similar things have happened before, in South America, but if the spider is poisonous, it may have some effect even when eaten.

He was infested with worm parasites that had burrowed into his flesh and had trouble speaking and moving after swallowing venom from a poorly cooked giant spider. He was covered with bites from "poux d'agoutis" - a particularly itchy tropical flea.