Are Banana Spiders Harmless? Depends on Which You See

Have you ever been on a walk with a friend, and you pass a big spider sitting in the center of a web? Maybe you express hefty alarm, but your friend says, "Oh, that? Don't worry, banana spiders are harmless."

While this assurance might be encouraging, it's basically inaccurate. Your friend might, in fact, know for certain that that particular arachnid — black and yellow, sitting in the middle of a giant web that has a zigzag in it that looks as if it's made of dental floss — will not hurt you.

However, it's definitely not true that every species on Earth commonly called a "banana spider" is harmless, so you shouldn't go around spreading that good news. Here is where we run into the problem with common names.

Scientific Naming and Carl Linnaeus

Every life form on this planet that