Areneus gemmoides

As the morning bell rang and students were running to class this morning, two grade 3 boys rushed up to me to show me their latest find:  a huge spider.  They had found it on the fence and collected it with a plastic container from one of their lunch kits (not sure where the snack went that mom sent in the lunch kit...).  Of course, there was plenty of excitement in other kids, there were parents and supervisors both enthralled and repulsed out, and the boys announced to me that they were going to take it to class.

Hmmm...

I definitely saw the concerned look our supervisor's face.

And, this would definitely be a hit, simultaneously stimulating and grossing out the entire class.

And--most importantly--I needed to know if this spider was poisonous; once it got into the class I would surely have someone's parent call with a concern later in the day.  This was, after all, not a tiny, little spider.  In fact, it was larger than a marble.  So, I did what any fast-thinking Principal would do:  I bought myself some time.  I told the boys that I would keep it safe in my office until we could release it.  "RELEASE IT?" one exclaimed, "He is going to KEEP it!"  I assured them that I would keep it safe, and rushed off to my office to try and identify this beautiful creature.

A quick search told me that we had found Areneus gemmoides, a very common, harmless arachnid, considered a very useful natural predator for insects. They are more commonly called the Jewel or Cat-Faced Spider, and their horns and markings resemble a cat's face.  I printed off the Wikipedia fact sheet for this critter, and took the spider back to class so that the teacher could share a look and some neat information with her students.  Now, they will all go home to tell their parents that they found a huge, harmless spider, and then the principal and spider-collecting student released her unharmed, back into nature to lay her eggs.  A great, teaching moment.

...and only one student was really grossed out...