OK, so we’re gonna suspend some of the the laws of physics, that might get in the way.
It’s not unusual for horror movies to have giant/mutated critters. So. . .
IF. . . it were possible for a spider to be as big as a pig or a cow, and not collapse under its own weight, what kind of sound would it make. I’d have to think its mouthparts would make some kind of clicking chattering sound. Maybe just a lot of drooling sounds as it was about to inject something to turn me into soup.
I thought of this while watching a doc recently called “Monster Bug Wars.” As the bugs were battling, there were these cool dubbed-in growling, roaring sounds as they did the close-ups.
There are number of different spider species that “hiss”. Since they produce this sound by “stridulation”, the sound made by a really huge one might sound more like rustling leaves, or a rainstick.
Hissing cockroaches, in contrast, make their sound by expelling air through the breathing holes in their shell. A hypothetical megaspider might have a similar capability, and thus sound more like an air hose.
To some degree the answer would depend on the function that the noise would serve.
Communicating across long distances? It could create a very low frequency stridulation (via legs or abdominal twitching) that vibrates across its environment and socializes with other megaspiders miles away much like the subsonic vibrations of elephants. Lots of spiders are very good at sensing and using vibration for communication and the range that a megaspider could get would be impressive indeed. Air expelled through holes could be regulated to become musical if here was some courtship function or loudly in order to frighten away an intruder (as if it needed to). That’s the function of the hissing sound in bugs and a megaspider could make a very loud version, but really does it need to hiss defensively?
Apparently seismic communication is important in extant spiders. Especially for courtship. With a megaspider one could say the earth moved even before they even touched!
According to a friend of mine and former marine serving in Iraq, camel spiders, I think it was, are known to rub their mandibles together to make an audible grinding noise. Trying to fall asleep at night must’ve been a horrifying experience…
