A Mexican Red Rumped Tarantula was the titular character in the 1955 film Tarantula.
Dr. Gerald Deemer has been experimenting with an artificial super-nutrient intending to supply mankind with an unlimited food supply. However, the formula has not been perfected and it has terrible side-effects for both animals and humans. In humans, it causes rapid acromegaly, resulting in death within a few days. In animals, it causes rapid and uncontrolled growth.
After the tarantula was exposed to the formula, it terrorized the town of Desert Rock, Arizona; eating livestock and humans alike, and leaving pools of venom where it attacked it victims.
As the tarantula attacks, the sheriff's forces open fire to no effect. They attempt dynamite, which destroys the highway, but the tarantula survives. It's not until an attack with napalm from the military, that the tarantula is finally destroyed.
