Terrifying huntsman spider ‘with skull on its back’ found in pack of bananas

A huge huntsman spider with a skull on its back has been found in a pack of bananas at a supermarket.

The venomous creature was discovered in the German city of Krefeld on Monday and led to the fire brigade being called.

The alarm was raised by supermarket employees, who discovered the spider in a box of bananas shipped to Germany from the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

The supermarket employees then reportedly secured the banana box containing the spider with plastic, while waiting for the fire brigade to show up.

The firefighters, meanwhile, dispatched an expert to the scene.

No one was injured by the arachnid, which was handed over to an animal rescue service.

The spider was identified as a Heteropoda venatoria, commonly known as a 'pantropical huntsman spider', 'giant crab spider' or even the aptly named 'banana spider', due to its occasional appearance in marketed bananas – such as is the case here.

It is native to the world's tropical regions and it is now also present in some subtropical regions as an introduced species.

At the moment it is still unclear as to how it made its way to Germany undetected.

It is not deadly, but its venom can result in a painful bite.

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The spider typically feeds on insects, with a preference for various species of butterflies and moths.

Specimens are reportedly often found in people's homes, where they often seek shelter from the cold.

In November last year, a horrified Tesco customer discovered a Brazilian wandering spider in a pack of bananas.

The species is one of only a few known to represent a serious threat to humans.

Adam Shepherd discovered a cocoon with a "spider's leg coming out” stuck to a bunch of bananas at the supermarket’s Lottbridge branch in Eastbourne, East Sussex, before proceeding to take a picture and post it on Facebook.

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