Spider size comparison: leg spans next to a credit card

Spider size comparison chart: leg spans next to a credit card

The biggest spiders here are the giant huntsman spider (11.8 in / 30 cm) and the Goliath birdeater (11 in / 28 cm), both measured across their outstretched legs – about 3.5 and 3.3 times the width of a credit card (3.4 in / 8.6 cm). The smallest is the zebra jumping spider at 0.3 in / 8 mm, legs included.

Spider sizes are leg spans, the width with the legs stretched out, so the body alone is much smaller: a Carolina wolf spider spans 3.5 in / 8.9 cm, yet its body is only a fraction of that. The two giants are upper figures – the largest males, not typical spiders – and the Brazilian wandering spider (5.9 in / 15 cm) is an upper value too, while the camel spider (4 in / 10.2 cm) is a cautious one. Camel spiders are solifuges: arachnids, but not true spiders. Widest first:

Huntsman spider size comparison: how big is a huntsman?

The giant huntsman spider of Laos spans about 11.8 in / 30 cm across its legs – the largest huntsman known and a record animal; most huntsman spiders are much smaller. That is about 3.4 times the leg span of a Carolina wolf spider and 12 times that of a brown recluse. The golden silk orb-weaver, often called banana spider, and the Joro spider both span about 3.5 in / 8.9 cm – adult females; the males are much smaller.

A camel spider spans about 4 in / 10.2 cm with its legs extended. Photos that seem to show far larger camel spiders are a matter of perspective: the animal sits close to the camera. In the chart every spider stands next to the same credit card, so sizes like these are easy to check. To size up a spider of your own, measure from leg tip to leg tip, or photograph it next to a coin or a card – without something for scale, spiders in photos often look bigger than they are.

Brown recluse, black widow and jumping spider size comparison

A brown recluse with its legs spread spans about 1 in / 2.4 cm, according to the University of Kentucky Entomology – roughly the size of a US quarter. An adult female black widow spans about 1.5 in / 3.8 cm; males are much smaller. The daddy long-legs or cellar spider reaches 1.8 in / 4.5 cm overall, almost all of it legs, and the zebra jumping spider of house walls only 0.3 in / 8 mm – about 11 of them would fit across a credit card. The Carolina wolf spider, the largest wolf spider in North America, spans 3.5 in / 8.9 cm. More in the guide “Wolf spider size comparison: how big they get, with and without legs”.

Height Studio compares sizes only. Whether a spider is medically significant is a question for health authorities, not for a size chart.

How to use Height Studio

1. Add yourself and others

   Open “Add person”, type a name and a height – 5′9″, 69 in, 175 or 1.75 m all work – and pick a figure, a build and a color. Children, teens and older people have their own silhouettes. “Add to comparison” puts the person into the chart.

2. Pick from the library

   In “Library”, type what you are looking for – a country, an animal, a building – or open a category. Every row shows the size and what was measured, and “Order” lists the figures A–Z or “Tallest first”.

3. Measure and compare

   Tap a figure to draw its measuring line across the chart. A card shows how much taller or shorter everyone else is and, for big things, how many of you it would take to reach the top.

4. Compare by length

   “Length” lines everything up by its length instead: ships, planes, trains, cars, whales and dinosaurs side by side from a start line, with people and rockets lying down. “Height” switches back.

5. Zoom, move and go full screen

   Pinch or use + and − to zoom, drag to move along the line-up, and “Fit all” brings everything back into view. “Full screen” gives the chart the whole screen; on a phone, turn it sideways for the widest view.

6. Share or save

   “Share link” copies a link with the whole comparison and “Save PNG” downloads it as a picture. In “Line-up” you can rename, recolor, reorder or remove every figure.

Popular comparisons

Tap one to load it into the chart above, then add yourself next to it.

• Giant huntsman spider vs. Goliath birdeater – 11.8 in / 30 cm against 11 in / 28 cm: a difference of 0.8 in / 2 cm.
• Carolina wolf spider vs. Brown recluse spider – 3.5 in / 8.9 cm against 1 in / 2.4 cm: about 3.7 times as wide, a difference of 2.5 in / 6.5 cm.
• Camel spider (solifuge) vs. Carolina wolf spider – 4 in / 10.2 cm against 3.5 in / 8.9 cm: a difference of 0.5 in / 1.3 cm.
• Black widow spider vs. Brown recluse spider – 1.5 in / 3.8 cm against 1 in / 2.4 cm: about 1.6 times as wide, a difference of 0.5 in / 1.4 cm.
• Joro spider vs. Black widow spider – 3.5 in / 8.9 cm against 1.5 in / 3.8 cm: about 2.3 times as wide, a difference of 2 in / 5.1 cm.
• Brazilian wandering spider vs. Golden silk orb-weaver (banana spider) – 5.9 in / 15 cm against 3.5 in / 8.9 cm: about 1.7 times as wide, a difference of 2.4 in / 6.1 cm.
• Daddy long-legs spider vs. Zebra jumping spider – 1.8 in / 4.5 cm against 0.3 in / 8 mm: about 5.6 times as wide, a difference of 1.5 in / 3.7 cm.

Tips for better comparisons

• Measure in the morning, barefoot. You are tallest right after waking up and lose a little height over the day. The guide How to measure your height at home shows an exact method with a wall and a book.
• Start from an idea. “Ideas to try” below the chart loads ready line-ups – family, dinosaurs, the tallest buildings, the solar system – that you can change freely.
• Stand next to your country. Search for your country in “Library” and add its average man or woman, or open the average height by country page with the whole ranking.
• No account needed – but mind what a link shows. A shared link keeps the whole comparison in its address, so a bookmark saves it. Our server never sees that part, but anyone you send it to can read the names. Use initials for real people, or send the PNG.

How do I convert centimeters to feet and inches?

Divide the centimeters by 2.54 to get inches, then take out whole groups of 12 as feet: 175 cm ÷ 2.54 = 68.9 in, which is 5 ft 8.9 in – about 5′9″. The other way round, multiply the inches by 2.54: 5′9″ is 69 in, or 175.3 cm. Or leave it to the tool: type either one and switch with the “ft / in” and “cm / m” buttons. The chart rounds to the nearest inch; the line-up keeps the exact value.

What is measured: without shoes, at the shoulder, nose to tail

• People stand straight, without shoes. Children show the WHO median for their age; country averages are the mean height of 19-year-olds in 2019, estimated by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration from measured data.
• Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, as zoos and breed standards do. The figure stands with its shoulder on that height, so a horse’s head rises above the line.
• Long animals – snakes, whales, sharks and most dinosaurs – are measured nose to tail, so the drawing is scaled by its length. Dinosaur sizes are museum estimates from fossils.
• Buildings use their official height to the architectural top, spires included; mountains their height above sea level. Planets sit on the ground like balls and are drawn by their diameter, and altitudes such as the Kármán line run across the chart.

Where the numbers come from

The figures in the library rest on 406 source pages – nothing is guessed. The one exception is marked as such: mythical creatures are legends, so their sizes come from the stories that tell of them or are illustration sizes, and each one carries a legend tag. Typical values are averages or the middle of the range a source gives, so real individuals vary. A few of the main sources by category:

• People & ages: World Health Organization, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
• Famous people: Guinness World Records, NBA.com, Team USA
• Sports: FIBA, Volleyball World, International Journal of Morphology
• Animals: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Animal Diversity Web, American Kennel Club
• Prehistoric: Natural History Museum, London, Field Museum, Chicago, Guinness World Records
• Mythical creatures: Project Gutenberg, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Internet Archive
• Tiny world: Animal Diversity Web, The Wildlife Trusts, Royal Horticultural Society
• Objects: The IFAB, FIBA, FIVB
• Vehicles: Lufthansa Group, NASA, SpaceX
• Buildings: CTBUH Skyscraper Center, U.S. National Park Service, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
• Nature: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woodland Trust, Guinness World Records
• Space: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science, NASA
• Altitudes: FAI, NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Countries: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

Every source with its link is on the sources page.

More height comparisons

• Height comparison chart
• Average height by country
• Dinosaur size comparison
• Tallest buildings in the world
• Tallest man in the world
• Animal size comparison
• Bear size comparison
• Cat size comparison
• Shark size comparison
• Length comparison
• Ship size comparison
• Planet size comparison