lathreau

[AHApartridge]

has anyone heard of a big kinda spider thing called a lathreau (i think). i saw the creature in the south of france and it was HUGE and it had hook claws which it uses to climb up things, it was black in colour.

[Birt]

Not very spider like but i know thwere is a species of black preying mantis in france.

http://naturallyconnected.typepad.com/photos/v iews_from_casita/black_praying_mantis-thumb.JP G

[AHApartridge]

no this thing was like the size of a laptop, although obviously it looked nothing like a laptop

[skylight]

Did it have a hard disc in the middle of its head!!!!!!! sorry coudn't resist............skylight

[kettledrum]

the latin name of the black widow spider is latrodectus (mactans). I wonder is your monster is some sort of relation ? The black widow is only about a cm long (female) & I think the male is about half that size.

[Birt]

Not aware of any latrodectus being that big. Camel spider maybe (not native to Europe) but they are not black. How much did it look like a spider? Did it look like anything else?

[AHApartridge]

i really have no clue what it might of been, it kind of flashed before my eyes. it looked most like a spider or a huge fly

[Birt]

im determined to find what you saw now!!! So was this a flying insect?

[AHApartridge]

i dont think so but it jumped and glided a bit into a bush.

[Birt]

It was probably some kind of Grasshopper. They can grow to huge sizes (18cm) and look quite scary when they are flying.
http://www.insectimages.org

Have a look at some images of grasshoppers etc.