A ustralian scientists officially confirmed the existence of a new venomous funnel-web spider species, named Big Boy (Atrax christenseni), discovered near Newcastle, 170 kilometer

Scientists from Australia and Germany have classified a new, highly venomous species of spider, Atrax christenseni, known as Big Boy. It is very large and highly venomous, with bites that can be fatal.

Researchers say they used anatomical and DNA comparisons to study different populations of the Sydney funnel-web spider – one of the world’s deadliest spiders – and found there were three species, only two of which were previously known to science.

A larger and more venomous species of one of the world's deadliest spiders has been confirmed by Australian scientists. Nicknamed 'big boy', it can grow up to 9cm (3.54 inches) compared with 5cm (1.97 inches) for the more common Sydney funnel-web.

Australian scientists have discovered a bigger, more venomous species of the Sydney funnel-web spider, one of the world's deadliest.

“Big boy” funnel-web was initially discovered in the early 2000s, but has now been officially confirmed by Australian scientists. The new huge variation was named Atrax christenseni in honour of the discovery of the creature in Newcastle - which is over 100 miles from Sydney.

A new bigger and more dangerous version of the world's deadliest spider, the funnel web, has been identified in the land down under – and it even has longer fangs and more venom