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Spider Photos - Huntsman |
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Here's some photos sent in by
viewers. Many people are confused by 5 similar looking spiders - the harmless
Huntsman, Wolf Spider, Southern House Spider (Kukulcania), Fishing
Spider and
the notorious Brown Recluse. Occasionally, the Huntsman Spider, Heteropoda
venatoria (Linnaeus), is misidentified as a Brown Recluse. However, the
colour pattern on the carapace of this species is reversed, with a light
median mark on a dark background, and adults of this spider are much
larger than a brown recluse. Huntsman spiders are large, long-legged spiders, measuring up to 15 cm across the legs. They are mostly grey to brown, sometimes with banded legs. Many huntsman spiders, especially Delena (the flattest), and including Isopeda, Isopedella and Holconia, have rather flattened bodies adapted for living in narrow spaces under loose bark or rock crevices. This is aided by their legs which, instead of bending vertically in relation to the body, have the joints twisted so that they spread out forwards and laterally in crab-like fashion ("giant crab spiders"). Both Brown (Heteropoda) and Badge (Neosparassus) Huntsman spiders have less flattened bodies. Huntsman spiders, like all spiders, moult in order to grow and often their old skin may be mistaken for the original spider when seen suspended on bark or in the house.
The lifespan of most Huntsman species is about two years or more.
Predators of Huntsman Spiders include birds and geckoes, Spider Wasps, nematode worms and egg parasites (wasps and flies).
All photos are copyright to their
owners and may not be reproduced without permission.
Please choose a
section.
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Huntsman spiders are not found in the United States any further north
than Southern California. They can not survive but in the most tropical
of situations which are hot all year round, or in desert scrubland like
the Olios giganteus on my website. That is one thing to consider before
labelling a spider from the states as a Huntsman. Most are imported, and
fewer than 3 species are common enough to be called native to this
country, besides some smaller Olios species, which are found in the
southwest (not San Francisco, which is in Northern California). While
you may in some rare instance find a huntsman up north, it'll die as
soon as season changes occur. - Paul Day |
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7 September, 2008:
Hi Glen
Enjoyed the site, found you totally by mistake backtracking some links to my blog. But now I found you, I thought you might be interested in these:
The three spiders seem the same to me. A type of huntsman, from looking at the pics on your sight. Correct?
Spoider maha was a big boy we found at the Emirates Al Maha desert resort, deep in the UAE desert.
Spoider was found in a Sri Lankan bathroom! He was happily eating quite a large winged insect and we gave him a pretty wide berth.
Spoider Shj Desert was on a camping trip in the same broad area of the UAE’s desert as Al Maha. Same type of thingy?
And then a camel spider, which are quite common here. This was quite a small one, but you have to be sooo fast to catch ‘em on camera – this is the best shot I’ve managed so far!
Hope they’re interesting – and wonder if you could confirm the huntsman guess?!!
Cheers!
Alexander |
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4 September, 2008:
Hey I found this bad mofo in my garage (I live in central FL). I believe it's a male southern house spider but all the pictures I've seen of them they look so flimsy. I know there's a smaller female southern house spider a few feet away on the ceiling as I see her every day but this guy is a nomad.
Thanks, Matt
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18 August, 2008:
Hey Glen!
I wanted to thank you for your response. I tried desperately to take a photo of my pet but couldn't snap a decent photo, I was, however, able to find a couple of pictures of the spider In question on your website of all places! The photos marked 'spidey' are of my arachnid in question. Also I included a couple photos of a Grey Huntsman I found in Queensland Australia [about 40km from Brisbane]. She's a fascinating spider, the biggest I've ever seen that didn't have a sheet of glass between us. You can get some idea of her size with the green tree frog next to her. I didn't know if you'd be interested in these photos or not. If you have any idea what that other little one is and how long her spiderlings might take to emerge I would greatly appreciate it! oh, and I LOVE THE SITE!
Thank you,
Jason
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29 June, 2008:
My friend is in Greece studying abroad and this is a spider she found in her house. I can't tell how big it is from the photograph, but it looks like it is really big.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks so much!
Hannah
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29 June, 2008:
Hi , I really hope you can help identify the spider in the attached photo.
Does it bite??? Is it dangerous??? Poisonous??? ETC.....
This is the second one that has entered my house. I am soooooooo afraid of them.
They are beautiful to watch OUTSIDE!!!!
The first one was about 4-5 inches in diameter, I could be off as I was running away, the second was definitely 3-4 inches in diameter as I had to watch where it was going as it was in my kids room and I didn't want it to go in one of their beds or clothes closet. I was worried it might be poisonous and they are little.
the picture is of one that is on my neighbors lamppost.
We live in Central East coastal Florida.
Any information would be greatly appreciated. We looked on web but couldn't pinpoint this species. Then we came across your great site but not matching it to anything.
Sherry
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25 June, 2008:
I have looked at photos on your website til i am completely creeped out =) this beauty was chillin' on my sliding glass door. there were two of them, one a little under 2 inches, the other (the one in the photo) about 2 3/8". it wouldn't be that big of a deal, as they stayed outside. but one seemingly crawled in from the AC vent and was hanging out on the ceiling, over the couch, while my 72 yr old mom and i were watching TV. she glanced up and very quickly got up. i haven't seen her move that fast in a couple years. he was safely removed to the outdoors ( i really hate to kill them), so all is well, but iwould reall like to know what it is. i can't see the eyes i don't think. i have an under and over photo, so i will send you both. any info is GREATLY appreciated.
i am located in redding ca 96001 |
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13 June, 2008:
Hi Glen,
I live in New Orleans (what's left of it). I think the attached photos show a Brazilian wandering spider lurking in my destroyed kitchen. Is that correct? Or maybe it's just a lawyer, I can't tell the difference.
I don't normally kill pests, but I wonder whether I should I try to remove it.
Thanks,
Eric
P.S. If you think it is a lawyer, please let me know and I will call an exterminator for sure. |
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9 June, 2008:
hi glen, we have killed a spider that looks exactly like this photo on your website to a tee. it is on the huntsman spider page and says, (can you identify this spider). Have you found out anything about this?
we are in ormond beach florida 9 mile above daytona beach florida.
this spider is very very fast and seems to stay on the walls close to the corners of the cieling and can fit in very small spaces for there size also. We have seen him out and about day and night both in the house. Please help if you can tell me moer?
Thank you and please reply,
Pete |
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9 June, 2008:
I live in Georgia and these things scare me to death. I guess they are all over the house but the ones I care about are the two I happened to see running on my bed, the one that had crawled under the sheet and was on my thigh and the one that had set up housekeeping at the foot of my bed when I lifted the sheet to change the linens.
I looked at all the Wolf spiders but the heads didn't seem to have exactly the same marking (the round bit) but I guessed that's what it was until I happened to see the Huntsman. (I'm away from the site and have forgotten the names).
Things bite me all the time while I'm sleeping and something got my earlobe last night. If a Huntsman ran over my face I would never sleep again. I guess this is the way you answer all those letters w/ pictures.
My guy is obviously dead (I thought it was a roach running across the floor and gave it a shot of Raid and found this fellow nearby in the morning.). I have been wondering for a long time what that long legged nightmare was and I'd appreciate a definitive answer - not that I'll sleep better. Just tell me I won't die if it bites me!
Thanks,
Alicia |
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30 May, 2008:
Can you identify this spider? |
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26 May, 2008:
Hi Glen...
I saw this spider in my hotel room in South Africa when I stepped out of the shower. Gave me quite a scare! Its body was about 4 inches long, and leg tip to leg tip it must have been a good 10 or 11 inches long.
I showed the picture to my two guides. One said it was a wolf spider, the other said it was a fishing spider. Is one of them right, or are they both off?
-James |
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26 May, 2008:
Hi Glen...
What a fabulous website you have! :)
I'm hoping you'll have a minute to take a peek at the attached photo. I'm being told they are Brown Recluse and I think they're Huntsman (more than anything because of the size). They are surprisingly fast, and can seriously flatten out to slip between the door and the frame. It looks very similar to a few of the photos in your Huntsman section, but not quite (I'm amazed at how they can vary so drastically). Sorry about the file size, I didn't want to crop it and lose what clarity there is. Any info you can provide on it would be greatly appreciated. :)
Thanks so much...
Kimberly |
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17 May, 2008:
Hi
Had this spider making the rounds of the house for a few days. Thought it was a huntsman, as we get heaps of them visiting but seemed to be very big bodied and a bit different in the colours than we normally get? Just finished releasing it back to a better place (in the garden). Are we right is it a huntsman?
Thanks
Tammy
PS you have a terrific website one to be very proud of!!!!
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16 May, 2008:
This was a baby huntsman who came for a visit at my
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10 May, 2008:
I also seen this big fellow in my backyard! Creepy!
John.. |
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5 May, 2008:
Glen, We found this little beauty walking down the
hallway this morning (we live in Phoenix, AZ). Any idea what
this is? Thanks for the great website. Mike |
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28 April, 2008:
I know you might get sick of this but I have looked at
hundreds of photos and can not find a name for this spider.
Looks like a wolf spider but not quite. can you help. I think my
8 mo old daughter was bitten by this and I would like to find
out as much as I can. Thank you for your help. picture attached.
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2 April, 2008:
Hi Glen, We live in Bermuda and there are lots of spiders
around, but they don't bother us and we don't bother them.
However this one is sort of scary looking and it has been
hanging out on our wall the whole day. Since we have a toddler I
would just like to know if this one is particularly dangerous.
If you can't ID it please let me know where I can send the pic.
Thanks and regards Roberta
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2 March, 2008:
Hi Glen, We live in Bermuda and there are lots of spiders
around, but they don't bother us and we don't bother them.
However this one is sort of scary looking and it has been
hanging out on our wall the whole day. Since we have a toddler I
would just like to know if this one is particularly dangerous.
If you can't ID it please let me know where I can send the pic.
Thanks and regards Roberta |
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1 March, 2008:
These pics that I'm attaching with this one are of a Crab
Spider that was on the ceiling in my bedroom a while back. I
photograph every spider I see now. I carry my camera with me
everywhere in my belt pouch. Feel free to use any pictures I
send --Damy
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29 February, 2008:
Hello Glen,
I found this large spider on the
wall of my home in Trinidad. Can you
identify the species?
Thanks. Michael
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4 February, 2008:
We were travelling in South
Africa this month and came across
this guy in the house. I am not
familiar with spiders in South
Africa but one guess might be from
the Huntsman group, any ideas?
Gerry
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21 January, 2008:
Do you know what this is?
Thanks.
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16 December, 2007:
Dear Glen, I just found this site while
looking for photos of spider webs. Spiders
are one of my most favourite creatures, I
think they are amazing. I have Huntsman
living in my home during the summer and
beautiful Orbs spinning their webs outside
my back door.
Here are a couple of recent photos I have
taken of a Huntsman on my light switch and a
lovely Golden Orb.
Thank you for this great site, Cathy,
from South Australia.
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25 November, 2007:
Hi glen, Just wondering if you can identify
this spider for me, I came across it in the
jungle in northern Thailand, went to go to the
toilet in a shabby outhouse, turned on my torch
and here was this little fellow right in front
of me…..scary! Thanks, Colin
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Reply: This is probably Heteropoda venatoria.
24 November, 2007:
Hi! I know that you get a lot of mails asking for
assistance, I'd like to join the queue! I am the
education officer at a Wildlife Park in Somerset,
England. We recently had a spider brought to the Park
that had stowed away in a shipment container believed to
have come from Asia. Our initial guess was a member of
the huntsman family but would appreciate any thoughts
you may have. The little fella is currently living in a
cage in the education office, much to my colleagues
distress. In order to convince her that it won't eat
her, your help is much appreciated. Feel free to use the
pictures in any way, one is quite good, the other is
just to show scale. Thanks in advance, Andy, Education
officer, Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park
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4 November, 2007:
Was tidying up in the garden and found this bugger tucked in
at top of recliner chair -
he was quite big, I don't think the ruler shows it
best cos he was all scrunched up (but they always look
big to me anyway!!)
He was about hand sized in this pic.
I persuaded him to jump off the chair (not
onto me) and run into the garden bed. Rob
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October, 2007:
Dear Glen, attached are some photos of a large light
brown spider with black spiky hairs on the upper parts of its
legs. its main body is 1 inch long but its leg spread is more
then 3 inches long it has 8 eyes and eagerly hunted down the
cricket I gave it and drank water so what we here at the shop
would like to know is what kind of spider is it and is it
dangerous, oh the container was from Singapore.
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30 September, 2007:
Cool!!
I'll send them on. Also, if you would like these pictures,
please feel free to do with them as you please. There are three
that I photographed while in the Phils and one while in Japan.
christopher
Click for a larger view.
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30 September, 2007:
HELLO STEVEN HERE FROM AUSTRALIA I ENJOY LOOKING OVER YOUR SITE
WEEKLY AND ENJOY GREATLY YOUR WORK I DECIDED TO SEND YOU IF YOU
WISH TO USE THEM A FEW PHOTOS OF AN AUSTRALIAN HUNTSMAN SPIDER I
HOPE YOU MAY FIND A USE FOR THEM THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME BYE FOR
NOW.
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13 September, 2007:
Hi, my name is Esteban Soler, i am from Argentina, i usually go
climbing in the sierras near the town i live, Mar del Plata, about
two weekends ago, i found a kinda big spider, about the size of my
hand, i am sending you a pic i managed to take, this was the first
time i saw a spider like this, so i am curious to know which one is
it. some one pointed me to the
Huntsman Spider -
Heteropoda venatoria in your site, so i am asking you
-- Esteban |
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2 September, 2007:
I clicked this photo after sweeping this big guy out of
my friend's gallery off Jackson Square in New Orleans, with
a Sharpie marker next to it for size. The photo was taken
about a week ago. It did NOT want to leave the air
conditioning. The thing flattened out like a pancake when
still and then hopped up when it walked, and with the legs
was about 3 inches across when laying flat. I have never
seen a spider like this here, but it looks a bit like the
pictures you have...
Thanks for any help, Laura
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19 August, 2007:
Hi Glen, maybe you have
an idea about the name of this spider? We saw it in
Thailand. Greetings Manfred
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24 July, 2007:
I was surprised to find this one today, so I
snapped some pictures and came across this site,
while trying to determine if this was in the
recluse family or not. As you can see, this girl
was a monster, and yes baby spiders rushed out
of the box like ants when I tried to move it
outside. Good Times!
Thanks,
Dorian
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20 July, 2007:
This spider was crawling on the wall of our central
Florida apartment. We first thought that it was a huge
moth. I didn't know if you know what kind of spider it
is or could be? I would greatly appreciate it. I have a
small dog and I want to make sure that it is not a
danger to her. Thank you
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30 June, 2007:
I first want to say that I think your site is great!!
Thanks for putting something like it out on the web for
us. I have attached a photo of a spider in my kitchen. I
live in
Melbourne Florida which in on the east coast and
there is a canal about 25 feet from the front door. The
distance between the tip of his/her front legs and back
is about 4 inches. However the body is much smaller.
When I first looked online I found very similar pictures
of a spider called a fishing spider. After I really
compared them though I notice some big differences. Such
as the marking on the abdomen, my spider’s abdomen is
also smaller than those of the fishing spiders I saw and
lastly my spider has these series of two dots that
appear going down each of its legs (I looks like a
single hair comes out of each dot). Someone mentioned it
being a wolf spider but it is not really hairy and again
the abdomen is quite small compared to the wolf spiders
I have seen. I do not have a clear picture of its eyes
and it seems from reading that that information can
really help in figuring out what species these creatures
are. Again thank you for the site and any help you can
provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Percepta
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30 May, 2007:
I live in southwest, Florida with undeveloped lots all around. I am
constantly getting inundated with critters...especially these
spiders. They hang out motionless on a wall in a closet or behind a
door during the day, but are very active at night roaming all over
the house. I couldn't find a picture on your site (or anywhere) that
quite matched them. Could you identify it? The body is a little
smaller than a quarter while the legs pretty much fill a man's hand.
They are very beautiful. Thanks! Deb Thompson |
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Thanx, Stephanie
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2 May, 2007:
HELP!
Can you tell me what kind of a spider I have in my camper. The
picture I am attaching is the one that got away. But I move two
bags and two more went up the wall and I can't locate them.
Thank you
Catherine Lindsay
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27 April, 2007:
I cought this spider in the tub and let him go outside. It scared
the heck out of my girlfriend. While I was outside one of the
neighbors saw it and said she finds them in her house all the time.
I searched the net and think its a Fisher or a Wolf spider, but
couldn't find this exact markings. Would you mind telling me what it
was, and was it dangerous? I didn't handle it, but it would be good
to know.
Found in the Bywater area of New Orleans LA
-Shane
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27 April, 2007:
Hi;
I found this large beauty in a woodpile, and had
never seen its kind on our property before. Its legs
span about 2¾-inches, body is about 1-inch long and
½-inch in diameter. It has a black face, spots along
the center of its back, and is tan in color. We live
in norther California (just north of Sacramento ). I
believe it to be a female golden Huntsman, but am
not positive. We have many wolf spiders here, and I
am familiar with them.
Can you verify this spider? Thanks.
Browns Valley , Ca
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19 February, 2007:
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15 February, 2007:
Hi, Great site, although all those
pictures of huntsmen began to make my skin
crawl!
I am keen to find out what kind of huntsman
found its way onto my window. The attached photo
is of its belly. You will notice the red and
white on its belly and almost yellow on the
joins of his legs. It has been suggested that it
is a Badge Huntsman but the photos I have seen
of those have the spider as a dark grey where as
this one is definitely brown.
Do you have any clues or know anyone that
might? My spider books can’t help me.
Thanks Kind regards, Marilynne
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14 January, 2007:
G'day Glen......have just moved to Wisemans
Ferry; they're all over the joint.
Cheers,
Phil.
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