Building a Giant Spider

So I am building giant spider species in my world, but I want to make semi-realistic changes to their physiology in order for them to be possible.

• Pack hunters like these spiders which hunt cooperatively
• able to drag 30-40 pound prey, but be able to swarm much larger creatures (like an adult human)

Given these requirements, what changes would have to be made? How big would they have to be? I know for instance, that small spiders pump fluid into their legs to move, but this doesn't really work on a larger scale. I was thinking as well, that given current earth-like conditions, they'd also need to process oxygen better than regular-sized spiders generally do.

Can creatures with an exoskeleton get this big? What adjustments would have to be made in order to meet my requirements?

I know I can hand-wave a bunch because it's a mythical world, but I would like for them to work without magic if at all possible.

EDIT: THIS HAS BEEN FLAGGED AS A DUPLICATE of a question about exoskeletons and size. Not only had I already seen this question and the answers there, it's the reason why I mention oxygen processing. THAT question was about crustaceans, this one is about SPIDERS. MY question has specific requirements for the creature I am building, including what they should be able to drag, and asking about what other changes need to be made (for example the hydraulic leg system scaling up). The biology of a spider and the biology of a crustacean ARE, in fact, different, from how they move, to how they breathe, what they eat, and how they hunt.

@Will for example, answered the question by saying that they don't have to be large, just push the cooperative nature of them, so that they drag things together.

posted about 7 years ago

Erin Thursby‭

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