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Brown Huntsman Spider - Heteropoda jugulans
FAMILY SPARASSIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about Brown Huntsman Spiders that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Leg to leg 70mm
This page contains pictures and information about Brown Huntsman Spiders that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. The Spiders are Brown in colour, with mottled pattern on flattened body. Their crab-like legs are long and enable them to move sideway. In Brisbane we can easily found them at night waiting for prey on wall in backyards during summer season. Sometimes they will come indoors and wander around on our walls and ceilings.
- Brown Huntsman spiders do not build webs but hunts on the ground and tree trunk.. The Spiders hide under bark or cracks during day time, active at night. Instead of chasing prey, the spiders usually wait at the spots where insects will come by. It is believe that the coming and going of insects put down scent trails that the Huntsman Spider can pick up. I took the above two pictures within two days in the same spot, during early summer at night in our back yard. This Huntsman Spider has been waiting in the same spot for many days. The above photos show the Brown Huntsman Spider waiting for its prey and then it successfully catch its prey.
Their body and hairy legs are brown in colour. They are well camouflage and not easily noticed when they are waiting their prey on the tree trunk. Notice the 'X' mark on carapace.
We found that the most favourite prey of the spiders were cockroaches. Their body and legs are flattened so that they can fit into the cracks. Cockroaches evolved the flat body to hide into the cracks. Huntsman Spiders evolved the flat body to hunt for them.
Sometimes they will come indoors and wander around on our walls and ceilings. As all other Huntsman Spiders, the Brown Huntsman Spiders can walk in any direction, forward, backward and sideway, very quickly.
The Spiders have eight small eyes, two rows of four across the front of their thorax.
Unlike insects, most young spiders are look similar to their adults. The above picture show the just-hatched young Brown Huntsman Spiders. The male Brown Huntsman Spiders look no different with female except they are a bit smaller in size.
