Missouri has native tarantulas. A St. Louis scientist says they’re docile ‘cupcakes'

In a parking lot in a secret location outside St. Louis, Becky Hansis-O’Neill and her team prepared to search for Missouri’s largest native spider.

They set off into the woods, hiking toward the spider’s home. Right away, a member of the party ambled face-first into a huge, elaborate web, home of an Orb Weaver — nowhere near the size of the spider they were looking for.

They continued their search, climbing over a fallen tree and walking into the sunny, desert-like glade habitat where the object of their study lives. Hansis-O’Neill put on gloves and began to lift big, flat rocks.

Under one, a spindly legged black spider with a red mark on its back was waiting.

“Ooh, an old wasp’s nest with a black widow on it!” Hansis-O’Neill said excitedly.

But that spider was too small.

On a plant