Who's afraid of Venomius tomhardyi? Meet 5 mesmerizing spiders named after pop culture characters.

From Ochyrocera varys to Anelosimus dude, these spiders are now connected to some of our favorite stories.

Photo illustration of spiders and related themes
That's right: Some spiders have deep webs in pop culture — but it doesn't make them less scary. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: HBO, Getty Images [7])
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Lights! Camera! Arachnids?

With Halloween around the corner, you may be interested to know that the creepy-crawlies descending as home decor or even haunting your nightmares share the same name as some of pop culture's most beloved characters.

Sure, these eight-legged creatures might not be as cute (or as warm) as some of their TV and movie counterparts, but they demand attention nonetheless. After all, Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones shares his name with a snake, while his Star Wars bestie Chewbacca shares one with a species of moths. One can argue there's plenty of room for other creatures, right?

Meet the spiders that have recently been named after figures we know and love.

1. Venomius tomhardyi

A ventral and retrolateral view of a male Venomius tomhardyi spider.

Swinging first onto the list is none other than a spider with a nod to Tom Hardy's gooey alter ego in the Marvel franchise Venom, who made his first appearance in May 1988's The Amazing Spider-Man #300, after an alien symbiote bonded with Hardy's character Eddie Brock.

The discovery was made in September, when a study published in Evolutionary Systematics revealed that a newly discovered Australian spider had been given the name by researchers who found the specimen on a recent field trip in southern Australia.

Tom Hardy at the U.S. premiere of
Tom Hardy at the U.S. premiere of Venom in 2018. (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

"The species epithet is a patronym in reference to the English actor Edward Thomas 'Tom' Hardy, who plays the character Eddie Brock and his alter-ego Venom in the superhero films of the same name," the study says. "This genus-group name is a reference to the head of the character Venom, with conspicuous black spots, that resembles the abdomen of our species, specifically the male holotype."

The new species is being preserved at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Tasmania, Australia. While Venomius tomhardyi is indeed venomous, researchers say it causes no harm to humans.

2. Ochyrocera varys

Ochyrocera varys spider close-up.

A spider always pays its debts, or so we'd imagine if the realm of Game of Thrones extended to the insect kingdom. With a nod to the cunning Lord Varys, the character from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones, Ochyrocera varys has offered no clues as to whether, like its namesake, is good at finding favor with the Mother of Dragons.

First recorded in the caves of northern Brazil in 2018, Ochyrocera varys, as researchers cited in a study published in Zoo Keys, hasn't been the focus of much research given that spiders face threats of extinction due to mining activities in the area.

Conleth Hill as Lord Varys in
Conleth Hill as Lord Varys in Game of Thrones. (Helen Sloan/HBO)

Still, we're confident Ochyrocera varys will find a way to survive no matter the costs.

Lord Varys, played by Conleth Hill, is often referred to as "Varys" or "the Spider." He's cunning and resourceful and tends to stay in the shadows like any creepy-crawler would.

3. Ochyrocera charlotte

Weaving tales of friendship and farmyard shenanigans, this spider pays homage to the cherished character in the children's book Charlotte's Web. Sadly, much like our friend Ochyrocera varys, the species is also found in Northern Brazil and faces similar threats of extinction because of mining.

E.B. White's
The friendly, life-saving spider Charlotte from E.B. White's Charlotte's Web is forging a new legacy as the species Ochyrocera charlotte. (Scholastic)

In the book by E.B. White, a spider named Charlotte hatches a plan to save a friendly pig named Wilbur from being slaughtered by spinning words in her web that describe him with phrases like "Some Pig," "Terrific" and "Radiant," creating a sense of wonder and amazement among the locals. The strategy makes Wilbur famous and therefore seen as too special to kill.

Who's to say if Ochyrocera charlotte is equally talented at spelling?

4. Eriovixia gryffindori (and its cousin Aname aragog)

Don't be surprised if these spiders yell "Bloody hell, Harry!" Named after two of the mystical characters in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, these insects are bound to have some magical surprises.

Meet E. gryffindori, a spidey with a "sorting hat"-shaped body named after the talking hat found at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Discovered in the Western Ghats mountain range of southwestern India, the tiny brown arachnid's odd body shape rises from a wide base to a tapered, bent peak above its back. The look is uncanny to the sorting hat — even Rowling approved the name in a 2016 tweet.

Eriovixia gryffindori spider close-up.
Eriovixia gryffindori is just as magical as its name sounds. That's because it gets it from the curious Sorting Hat character from the Harry Potter series. (Sumukha J.N.)

And let's not forget Aname aragog, named after Aragog, the giant spider found in the Forbidden Forest. With downward-facing fangs, it certainly stays true to its namesake.

While these arachnids spin silk to line their burrows, they don't build elaborate webs like other groups of spiders, the Western Australian Museum says. Rather, A. aragog is quite sensitive and lives underground in burrows, or in wetter parts of Australia.

Aname aragog spider close-up.
Aname aragog might not be giant like Aragog from the Forbidden Forest, but for some it's just as terrifying. (WA Museum Collections)

5. Anelosimus dude

Anelosimus dude spider close-up.
Anelosimus dude is just as chill as the man he's named after, Jeff Lebowski (aka "the Dude") in The Big Lebowski. (Ingi Agnarsson)

This dude is just trying to live his life, similar to Jeff Bridges's character Jeff Lebowski ("the Dude") in The Big Lebowski, directed by the Coen brothers. He rolls in the Tanzanian rainforests and was first spotted by Danish researcher Nikolaj Scharff, who made them available to evolutionary scientist Ingi Agnarsson, in 2006, as part of his graduate research, according to Wired.

A. dude and its cousin Anelosimus biglebowski are part of a genus known for being, well, chill, Agnarsson told Wired in March: "These Anelosimus spiders are unusual in that they’re tolerant of one another," he said. "If you look at spiders as a whole, Anelosimus spiders like A. biglebowski and A. dude are much more laid-back … as long as you’re not prey."

Jeff Bridges as
Jeff Bridges as "the Dude" in The Big Lebowski. (Working Title Films)

Clearly, Agnarsson is a fan of the Coen brothers, as he felt like he "needed to honor this movie in some way," he said. "I look to the Dude for the way he goes through life and doesn’t get too bothered about things that are going on. When the world looks a little crazy, you’ve just got to take a step back and chill."

But wait, there's more ...

Swinging in from the skyscrapers of New York City, these eight-legged creatures have some superhero credentials!

Pritha garfieldi spider close-up
Pritha garfieldi loves to live in crevices — and possibly save its neighborhood of webs from evil superpowers. (Wikipedia Commons)

Discovered in 2015, two spiders named Filistata maguirei and Pritha garfieldi were found crawling in the southern parts of Iran. Named after Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, respectively, both species come from the family Filistatidae (also known as "crevice weavers").

Actor Andrew Garfield dressed as Spider-Man.
Andrew Garfield in costume as Spider-Man at Comic-Con 2011. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

As the name suggests, Filistata maguirei and Pritha garfieldi enjoy building their webs inside crevices, Screen Rant reported. And while they're indeed venomous, researchers say they pose no risk to humans. After all, they're just your friendly neighborhood spiders, right?

No word on whether Tom Holland will get a spider of his own, but here's hoping!