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FAMILY SPARASSIDAE
- This page contains pictures and information about Brown Huntsman Spiders that we
found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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 - Leg to leg 70mm
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- 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 easily found them at night waiting for prey
on wall in backyards during summer season.
Sometimes they came indoors and wander around on our walls and ceilings.
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- 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. We 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.
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- Their body and hairy legs are brown in colour. They are well camouflage and
not easily noticed when they are waiting prey on the tree trunk. Notice the 'X' mark on
carapace.
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- We found that their most favourite prey 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 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.
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- The Spiders have eight small eyes, two rows of four across the front of their
thorax.
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- Young spiders look similar to their adults. The
above picture show the just-hatched young Brown Huntsman Spiders.
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- The male Brown
Huntsman Spiders look no different with female except they are a bit smaller in
size.
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- Reference:
- 1. Wildlife
of Greater Brisbane - Queensland Museum 1995, p27.
- 2. Huntsman
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The Find-a-spider Guide for Australian
Spiders, University of Southern Queensland, 2007
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