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Fen raft spiders are doing better in the UK thanks to some big conservation efforts, I contributed some quotes to this article downplaying some of the nonsense that has been spouted about them "invading our homes".... https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/giant-spiders-size-rats-coming-uk-not-garden-3235907
@dfoffreedom
Is that article confusing mice and rats?
“ They [the spiders] are usually about 8cm wide, longer than many rats, which generally measure 6-9cm long.”
Rats are much larger than that, Wikipedia gives 15-28 cm for the body of a common brown rat alone, which is more in line with my own sightings of rats than 6 cm.
@johannes_lehmann yes it's a ridiculous comparison but the one papers seem to have picked up. It's daft anyway as the spiders' span will be mostly legs, Itried looking up mass records for D. plantarius, as I'm certain they're much lighter than rats too, but couldn't find anything.