Far and wide her lesser broods...spread from glen to glen, from the Ephel Dúath, to the eastern hills, to Dol Guldur and the fastnesses of Mirkwood. But none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world.
That is the only reference to the Spiders of Mirkwood that I can find in LoTR. Fortunately, the Fellowship just never entered any areas where these "lesser broods" still lived. Until Sam and Frodo ran into the Big Mama herself, that is.
Too bad Legolas wasn't around. He'd proabably killed his share of spiders in his day. Maybe he could have given them some pointers.
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