Quite similar in that no one ever identified the spiders, yes.

Yes, it's quite common that news outlets make things up instead of consulting experts. Please note that there are no spiders at all in the main article (because, journalism), and the one you linked to mentions this gem: "The spiders have not been officially identified but the family believe they could have been the…

If you give a general region (state, province, or country) I can tell you all of the potentially dangerous spiders that are native to that region. Part of the confusion likely comes from the use of common names; "banana spider" in the US usually refers to Nephila clavipes rather than Phoneutria (the subject of this…

It's that any bug or bug-like thing is automatically interpreted as a super-rare event because it makes for a lot of attention regardless of truth.

There are three spider families with no venom glands whatsoever. They still eat just fine, thankyouverymuch.

They're not. The article straight-up says that these are unidentified eggs, but that "pest control experts" think they're "tropical spider eggs." This is shitty reporting and simple clickbait.

You've heard them because they're made up. Did anyone even read the article, which conveniently mentioned that whatever was on this lady's bananas was unidentified?

This sounds like a really miserable existence, and it doesn't have to be. I can't imagine having such severe anxiety over such a commonly-encountered, extremely-low-risk kind of animal. If you're not being hyperbolic I would suggest you seek some help, as it sounds like it's seriously interfering with your life.

It is worth mentioning that no experts have been consulted on this, and if they had, they likely would have said that very few arthropods—not just spiders, but jointed, exoskeletoned things which make up the vast majority of the animal kingdom, are reliably identifiable by eggs.

Pest control experts =/= Biologists, entomologists, or arachnologists. None of whom, by the way, can ID the eggs, because species are identified by their mature genitalia.

I would love to meet your MIL, because identifying what animal an egg sac came from (or even identifying an egg sac as such) in the days before: a) the internet, b) readily available field guides, c) open-source scientific publishing, or, hell, a great deal of what is known about arachnology, would be a real feat for…

[citation needed]

Also, I actually went and googled "Goblin Shark," and holy shit! But even terrifying monster-animals don't deserve to go extinct.

I feel like this is excellent advice for life in general.

I love what I do! Sounds like we would get along really well.

Awesome! Thanks for being a friend to spiders :)

I'm not a psychologist, obviously, but very controlled/limited exposure, working up to more, has been extremely effective for students, classmates, and friends/acquaintances of mine. It absolutely has to be with someone trustworthy (otherwise you get crappy situations like Eville's story about the tarantula, which is…

Ugh, whoever did that is an asshole. In my experience, arachnophobia is very, very treatable (I'm an arachnologist, but I used to teach HS, and still do a ton of public outreach), and I'm always amazed at how much arachnophobia can really dominate some people's lives. You sound like you've more or less got it handled,…

Common or no, some centipede venom can really fuck you up. I'm a friend to all arthropods, and they're obviously never out to get you (this one was just foraging in the wrong place at the wrong time), but the risk with centipedes is way higher than with most other things.

I'm sure it does! I'm sorry that happened to you. Most arachnids are harmless, if scary-looking, but being a kid and having negative encounters with those must be pretty awful.