History Main / ArtisticLicenseArachnids

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': The first movie features a monstrous gigantic scorpion that not only has jaws, but also another head hidden in his stinger tail. Then again, it was a {{youkai}}.

** There are six Pokémon based on spiders. Spinarak, Dewpider, and Araquanid only have six legs instead of eight, and Ariados (Spinarak's evolution), Joltik, and Galvantula [[FourLeggedInsect have only four]].
** Skorupi and Drapion, both based on scorpions, each have half the amount of legs they should. However, in a subversion of another frequent scorpion trope, their pincers are attached to their heads, just like those of real scorpions.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spiders don't have most of the traits that the eponymous hero does. They're not particularly strong for their size in the same way Spider-Man is and they certainly don't have a quasi-mystical spider-sense that can predict all kinds of danger before they even have signs to happen[[note]]Spiders can indeed detect subtle environmental shifts and vibrations through their hairs to avoid predators and locate prey, but not to the almost precognitive level Spider-Man is sometimes portrayed with[[/note]]. What they do have are webs, reflexes, venom, and being extremely hardy. The Wallcrawler only has the hardiness and the reflexes naturally. And wallcrawling, of course. Furthermore, Spider-Man's origin story in "ComicBook/AmazingFantasy15 has the narrator incorrectly refer to the radioactive spider that bit Peter as an insect, when in fact they are arachnids.

** A similar commonly stated myth states that a tarantula's bite is "no more painful than a bee sting". While it is generally true that tarantula bites are not ''dangerous'' to humans, they are still extremely ''painful'', especially in the larger species due to the shear size of the fangs.

* ''Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders'': A swarm of super-aggressive tarantulas with extra-potent venom is blamed on...the spiders' food supply being eliminated by human encroachment. So, the lack of food made the spiders multiply explosively, change their behavioral patterns (attacking humans and livestock, encasing prey in webbing), and gave them super-potent venom? Not even a "mutation caused by [[ToxicWasteCanDoAnything toxic waste]] or nuclear testing" handwave. Even if there were such an excuse given, the whole thing is laughably unrealistic.
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'': Shelob is, for all intents and purposes, a giant funnelweb spider living high in the mountains above Minas Morgul and fairly faithful to her characterization from Tolkien's legendarium, with the dozens of webbed up corpses implying that film Shelob retained the endless hunger from her book counterpart. Shelob has a venomous stinger (which spiders don't have, as their venom is injected through their fangs, while stingers only evolved through flying insects such as wasps, or other arachnids such as scorpions), which she stabs Frodo with to paralyze him (he gets better) and tries to do several times to Sam. See below in Literature.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Lampshaded in the TV film "Bender's Game," where the Professor gets angry at Igner for calling a giant spider a "magic bug."

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spiders don't have most of the traits that the eponymous hero does. They're not particularly strong for their size in the same way Spider-Man is and they certainly don't have a quasi-mystical spider-sense that can predict all kinds of danger before they even have signs to happen[[note]]Spiders indeed can detect subtle environmental shifts and vibrations through their hairs to avoid predators and locate prey, but not to the nearly precognitive level Spider-Man is portrayed as possessing[[/note]]. What they do have are webs, reflexes, venom, and being extremely hardy. The Wallcrawler only has the hardiness and the reflexes naturally. And wallcrawling, of course. Furthermore, Spider-Man's origin story in "ComicBook/AmazingFantasy15 has the narrator incorrectly refer to the radioactive spider that bit Peter as an insect, when in fact they are arachnids.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spiders don't have most of the traits that the eponymous hero does. They're not particularly strong for their size in the same way Spider-Man is and they certainly don't have a quasi-mystical spider-sense that can predict all kinds of danger before they even have signs to happen[[note]]Spiders can detect subtle environmental shifts and vibrations through their hairs to avoid predators and locate prey, but not to the nearly precognitive ability Spider-Man is portrayed as possessing[[/note]]. What they do have are webs, reflexes, venom, and being extremely hardy. The Wallcrawler only has the hardiness and the reflexes naturally. And wallcrawling, of course. Furthermore, Spider-Man's origin story in "ComicBook/AmazingFantasy15 has the narrator incorrectly refer to the radioactive spider that bit Peter as an insect, when in fact they are arachnids.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spiders don't have most of the traits that the eponymous hero does. They're not particularly strong for their size, they're not very agile, and they certainly don't have a quasi-mystical spider-sense. What they do have are webs, venom, and being extremely hardy. The Wallcrawler only has the hardiness naturally. And wallcrawling, of course.

* Spiders are consistently depicted as being lethally venomous, the venom is almost always of the "causes [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]]" type (with an occasional appearance of the "[[TheParalyzer paralyzes whole body]], including lungs" type), and their venom always acts within seconds, regardless of species or other factors like the bitten human's health. Most spiders aren't even dangerous to humans at all. Even with ones that are, such as the brown recluse, the venom may take anywhere from a few hours to almost a day before the effects are felt. Even on the spider’s natural prey, insects, the venom still can take up to a few minutes to actually kill it[[note]]Not just effects vary depending of the [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2728023/ spider species considered]], but also depends of what kind of prey is envenomated. In orb-weaving spiders, [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2517654/ as the black widow]], that wrap their prey in silk, venom tends to be more to paralyze it than for killing it outright[[/note]].

* Spiders are consistently depicted as being lethally venomous, the venom is almost always of the "causes [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]]" type (with an occasional appearance of the "[[TheParalyzer paralyzes whole body]], including lungs" type), and their venom always acts within seconds, regardless of species or other factors like the bitten human's health. Most spiders aren't even dangerous to humans at all. Even with ones that are, such as the brown recluse, the venom may take anywhere from a few hours to almost a day before the effects are felt. Even on the spider’s natural prey, insects, the venom still can take up to a few minutes to actually kill it[[note]]Not just effects vary depending of the [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2728023/ spider species considered]], but also depends of what kind of prey is envenomated. In orb-weaving spiders, [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2517654/ as the black widow]], that wrap their prey in silk, venom tends to be more for paralyze it than for killing it outright[[/note]].

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' continuum of Creator/AAPessimal expands on the marginal canon character of Arachne, a spider-obsessed graduate of the Assassins' Guild who uses arachnids as an agent for creative and stylish inhumation. The Pessimal Discworld has Arachne Webber as a senior student at the Guild School, who (where other students are allowed to keep a brace of stylish hunting dogs as pets) elects to have a companion spider. In her case, the Sloth-Eating Spider of Paraquat, which she has neglected to inform Guild authorities grows to a mature size of ''nine feet across from claw-tip to claw-tip'' and is perfectly capable of stunning and eating a large hunting dog. She names this pet [[FluffyTheTerrible Felicia]]. In RealLife, of course, for a spider to grow to this size would be biologically impossible due to the above- and below-mentioned SquareCubeLaw.

* Spiders are consistently depicted as being lethally venomous, the venom is almost always of the "causes [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]]" type (with an occasional appearance of the "[[TheParalyzer paralyzes whole body]], including lungs" type), and their venom always acts within seconds, regardless of species or other factors like the bitten human's health. Most spiders aren't even dangerous to humans at all. Even with ones that are, such as the brown recluse, the venom may take anywhere from a few hours to almost a day before the effects are felt. Even on the spider’s natural prey, insects, the venom still can take up to a few minutes to actually kill it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': The Spider Mastermind and her Arachnotrons all have two vestigial arms and four mechanical legs. Granted, they're just demons with "spider" in their name. ''Doom 64'' plays it straighter, giving them another pair of mechanical legs while removing their vestigial arms.

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'': Similar to the above example, the Canyon Spiders aren't spiders at all and appear to be giant ''solifugids'' instead.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The above-mentioned Shelob has a stinger in the original book as well, alongside horns and a beak and clusters of eyes. Justified, as in Shelob is less than a "spider blown to humongous size" and more of the literal daughter of an AnimalisticAbomination in a spider-like shape, namely Ungoliant, described in ''The Silmraillion''.

* ''Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders'': A swarm of super-aggressive tarantulas with extra-potent venom is blamed on...the spiders' food supply being eliminated by human encroachment. So, the lack of food made the spiders multiply explosively, change their behavioral patterns (attacking humans and livestock, encasing prey in webbing), and gave them super-potent venom? Not even a "mutation caused by [[ToxicWasteCanDoAnything toxic waste]] or [[NuclearNasty nuclear testing]]" handwave. Even if there were such an excuse given, the whole thing is laughably unrealistic.

* Arachnids don't have jaws, teeth, or tongues like vertebrates do. Spider fangs always point downwards, not directly inwards towards each other like insect mandibles (though araneomorph fangs do point diagonally down and inwards). They also aren't used to suck the juices from prey; instead they have a tiny mouth-hole, which is what regurgitates enzymes and does the sucking afterwards.

* Spiders are also often depicted as tiny vampires, sucking out the blood (or its equivalent) of its victims. In truth, after subduing their prey they will pump out digestive fluids on it to suck the liquefied entrails (blood included) often grinding their food while eating and leaving behind either an empty, intact, husk (most species) or a ball of indigestible parts (as in orb weavers and tarantulas).

* Almost ''every single spider in fiction'' will be associated with web-making and silk production. Not all spiders produce webs to hunt, with some preferring to stalk or chase after prey. Even those that do make silk/webs exhibit more variety in web-shapes than the net-like orb-weaver-style net most often seen in fiction, with some like those of the notorious black widow spider looking more like tangles of silken threads without a distinct pattern. A few spiders even hunt from burrows lined with silk that acts as tripwires, although they're rarer.

* Spiders are consistently depicted as being lethally venomous, the venom is almost always of the "causes [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]]" type (with an occasional appearance of the "[[TheParalyzer paralyzes whole body]], including lungs" type), and their venom always acts within seconds, regardless of species or other factors like the bitten human's health. Most spiders aren't even dangerous to humans at all. Even with ones that are, such as the brown recluse, the venom may take anywhere from a few hours to almost a day before the effects are felt.

* Spiders are consistently depicted as being lethally poisonous, the venom is almost always of the "causes [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]]" type (with an occasional appearance of the "[[TheParalyzer paralyzes whole body]], including lungs" type), and their venom always acts within seconds, regardless of species or other factors like the bitten human's health. Most spiders aren't even dangerous to humans at all. Even with ones that are, such as the brown recluse, the venom may take from a few hours to almost a day before the effects are felt.

* Spiders are ''not'' poisonous, they are ''venomous'', poison needs to be touched or ingested in order to kill you, venom needs to be injected into the bloodstream to have an effect. In fact as demonstrated by any animal that eats a spider, venom can be ingested without any ill effects (unless you happen to have an ulcer), since it gets broken down by digestive juices.

* Scorpions, spiders and most other arachnids have eight legs (the pincers are pedipalps, which are closer to mouthparts than anything), [[FourLeggedInsect but good luck finding a fictional one with the right number of legs]]. This is made all the more jarring because a simple Website/{{Google}} search would clear up this misunderstanding immediately. Mites are more variable: most have eight legs as adults and nymphs but just six legs as larvae, and the unusual family [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriophyidae Eriophyidae]] have just four legs. But it's [[SeldomSeenSpecies pretty rare to see mites in fiction.]]

* Scorpions, spiders and most other arachnids have eight legs (the pincers are pedipalps, which are closer to mouthparts than anything), [[FourLeggedInsect but good luck finding a fictional one with the right number of legs]]. This is made all the more jarring because a simple Website/{{Google}} search would clear up this misunderstanding immediately. Mites are more variable: most have eight legs as adults and nymphs but just six legs as larvae, and the unusual family [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriophyidae Eriophyidae]] have just four legs. But it's pretty rare to see mites in fiction.

* Spiders are consistently depicted as being lethally poisonous, the venom is almost always of the "causes [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]]" type (with an occasional appearance of the "[[TheParalyzer paralyzes whole body]], including lungs" type), and their venom always acts within seconds, regardless of species or other factors like the bitten human's health. Most spiders aren't even dangerous to humans at all.

** A similar commonly stated myth states that a tarantula's bite is "no more painful than a bee sting". While it is generally true that tarantula bites are not ''dangerous'' to humans, they are still extremely ''painful'', especially in the larger species.

* While in RealLife some tarantulas and various trapdoor spiders can indeed hiss, most spiders can't and don't.

* Almost ''every single spider in fiction'' will be associated with web-making and silk production. Not all spiders produce webs to hunt, with some preferring to stalk or chase after prey. Even those that do make silk/webs exhibit more variety in web-shapes than the net-like orb-weaver-style net most often seen in fiction, with some like those of the notorious black widow spider looking more like tangles of silken threads without a distinct pattern. A few spiders even hunt from burrows lined with silk that acts as tripwires, but they're SeldomSeenSpecies anyway.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'': Munya is supposed to transform into a spider/human hybrid, but looks much more like a red [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] with fangs, claws, and four spider legs poking out of his back.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'' had the episode "Sister Mask" where the BigBad of the series, Dr. Pretorius, a {{cyborg}} turned ''into'' a GiantSpider as a SuperPoweredEvilSide upon wearing Loki's mask, but there were several things that were very inaccurate:
** He only had two eyes for his GlowingEyesOfDoom, when arachnids have eight.
** He had eight legs, although as detailed at the top of this page, not all spiders have eight legs.
** Most obviously, arachnids ''do not'' have teeth and he should have tried to kill Stanley and Peggy by ''sucking'' them not eating them with tentacles.
** Pretorius' default form is a head on spider-like legs that's small (detached from a human body) as a {{Cyborg}}, so logically, due to SquareCubeLaw, he should never have been able to reach that size without collapsing under his own weight.
** Spiders can't talk, so this form shouldn't have been able to; however, the ArtisticLicense is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as he's wearing Loki's mask, which brings out the wearer's inner hidden desires.
** Finally, green spiders are mainly found in California and the Southern states, rather than the NoCommunitiesWereHarmed version of Chicago, Edge City, but this is justified due to it being an alter-ego of Pretorius.