Although its venom is the deadliest in the world, no one in Australia has died of a funnel-web bite since the introduction of an antivenom in 1981, despite the 30 to 40 recorded funnel-web bites every year. This is because the antivenom is an excellently effective treatment – but the new discovery could help tweak it.

They say good things come in threes—but is that true even for the most venomous spider in the world? Scientists in Germany and Australia have reclassified one of the world’s most infamous arachnids. In their research,

By Shreya Dasgupta The Sydney funnel-web spider, a highly venomous arachnid found crawling in and around Australia’s most populous city, was long thought to be a single species. But it’s actually three different species,