Viral photograph of ‘giant’ huntsman spider an optical illusion, says expert

A huntsman spider which has been terrifying the internet for its seemingly large size is in fact “quite normal” and only looks so big because of angle of the photograph, an arachnologist says.

The photograph of the spider named Charlotte was posted by Barnyard Betty's Rescue in Australia last year, but only went viral this week, ABC Online reports.

According to the rescue organisation's Facebook post, someone saved the "amazing creature" from being killed last year and before releasing it onto a farm.

Charlotte is described as a “beautiful, calm spider” and “not aggressive in any way”.

“Like most spiders she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace,” the organisation said on Facebook.

However, its seemingly large size is in fact an optical illusion, says Dr Robert Raven, principal curator (Arachnida) at Queensland Museum.

“The tree and the broom are in focus so you’re getting this unusual perspective.”

“It’s quite a normal size of this species - and I’ve got a live one on my desk at the moment - the placement of the tree behind it makes it look like it is as big as the tree,” he told ABC news.

“The biggest huntsman in the world by leg span is a south-east Asian one, [which has ]a 30cm leg span,” he said.

“We’ve got species of that genus in Australia and the ones in North Queensland get up in size - not to 30cm - but they get big, big spiders there.

“The one pictured is one of biggest species in North Queensland.”

Dr Raven said the spider appeared to be an adult, so it would be unlikely to get any bigger in leg span.