New species of venomous spider as big as your face discovered in Sri Lanka Female Poecilotheria rajaei, which has a leg span of 20cm, from northern Sri Lanka. Picture: Ranil Nanayakkara Source: Supplied The distinctive markings on the underside of the female Poecilotheria rajaei, from northern Sri Lanka. A NEW species of venomous spider has been discovered in Sri Lanka - and it's about the size of a human face. The tarantulas have a stomach-churning 20cm leg-span, distinctive daffodil-yellow markings on their legs and a pink band around their bodies. They were found living in the old doctor's quarters of a hospital in the war-torn northern province of Mankulam by scientists from Sri Lanka's Biodiversity Education and Research (BER) organisation. The arachnids have been named Poecilotheria rajaei, in honour of Michael Rajakumar Purajah, a senior police official who led the research team through a hazardous stretch of jungle ravaged by civil unrest. As a group, the spiders are related to a class of South American tarantula that includes the Goliath bird-eater, the world's largest. The species was first seen in October 2009 after villagers presented a male specimen that they had killed to BER co-founder Ranil Nanayakkara. Male Poecilotheria rajaei, which has a leg span of 20cm, from northern Sri Lanka. Nanayakkara immediately realised that the dead arachnid did not resemble known Poecilotheria in the area and put together a team to hunt down its living relatives. Eventually, the team found enough spiders - including the ones hiding in a hospital - to assemble a detailed description of the new arachnids, releasing photographs after years of research.