Researchers say they used anatomical and DNA comparisons to study different populations of the Sydney funnel-web spider – one of the world’s deadliest spiders – and found there were three species, only two of which were previously known to science.

The new funnel-web species has earned the nickname "Big Boy" and was first discovered in the early 2000s near Newcastle, 105 miles north of Sydney, by Kane Christensen, a spider enthusiast and former head of spiders at the Australian Reptile Park.