You thought carrying your children was hard work? Creepy pictures show female amblypygi spider balancing 48 offspring on her back 

Pictures from French student Jordan Cadiot, 20, show a mother amblypygi spider carrying up to 48 of her young on her back 

The spiders have the appearance of a crab but are in fact arachnids. They are also known as whip spiders and tailless whip scorpions

In the creepy photos the young pale spiders with a tinged green abdomen cling to their mother's back 

The carnivorous spider, seen here devouring a cockroach, are entirely harmless to humans despite their unsightly appearance 

The detailed shots show the eggs packed inside the see-through egg sac, which later hatch and take up position on their mother's back until they are ready to move out and live on their own 

The baby spiders eventually make their way out of their mother's sac but remain with her by clinging to her back

A juvenile spider, seen above, does not grow too large and reaches the average size of a human finger 

They are found in tropical and subtropical regions across the world.  Some species are subterranean and all are nocturnal 

Five families, 17 genera and around 155 species of the freaky-looking arachnids have been discovered and described 

Amblypygids have eight legs but use only six for walking and often moved like a crab in a sideways position

They are generally widely distributed in warm, humid regions, where they are found in protected situations such as under bark or in leaf litter 

Like any other spider, an amblypygid variety will molt several times during its life but before, during and after molting they generally do not feed

They generaly feed on arthropods such as crickets, katydids, harvestmen, spiders, millipedes, roaches, and moths 

Most species are less than 5cm long but their first pair of legs may be as long as 25 cm in some varities of the spider 

Amblypygids do not have the silk-spinning function or poison glands of other spiders, but they do have modified spider-like fangs 

The gruesome pictures again show the group of baby spiders huddled onto the back of their mother