rss Another unknown spider
Location: Nicaragua, Managua, El Crucero ( 12° 3’45.68”N – 86°18’51.68”W)
January 30, 2012 5:47 pm
Dear Bugman,
Can you tell me what’s that spider I found in mi kitchen?
Signature: Sergiortc
Huntsman Spider
Dear Sergiotc,
We believe this is a Giant Crab Spider in the family Sparassidae, a group sometimes called Huntsman Spiders.
wasp
Location: melbourne, australia
December 18, 2011 6:42 am
This huge ie 4-5 cm wasp was dragging huntsman spider up the window. Spider still seemed alive
I live in Melbourne, Australia and it is December-beginning of Summer.
Wasp not aggressive to me, BUT NOT HAPPY when I hit it with a broom. It dropped twitching spider & flew off!
Signature: Dom
Spider Wasp and Huntsman Spider Prey
Dear Dom,
We have several excellent images of Australian Spider Wasps with Huntsman Spider prey in our archives. The female Spider Wasp stings and paralyzes the Spider and then drags it back to her burrow to act as food for her brood. The adult wasps feed on nectar. We can imagine that it is a difficult task for the female Spider Wasp to locate her prey, sting it and then begin the long haul back to her burrow, and it is quite unfortunate that your broom hitting incident interrupted her task. We hope that now that you are better informed, you will allow these food chain dramas to play out without unnecessary interventions in the future.
Banded Huntsman Spider
Location: Hawkesbury Region, Sydney, Australia
November 28, 2011 3:12 pm
Hi,
I live a little outside of Sydney in a rural area (quite dense bushland) and get quite a few of these Banded Huntsman Spiders (please correct me if I’m wrong). This one was quite large as you can see in the photos. They are quite timid, which is great for taking photos, and their markings are stunning. Thought you’d like the photos as I haven’t seen one like this on your site as yet.
Signature: Tracy
Banded Huntsman Spider
Hi Tracy,
It seems that Banded Huntsman Spider is the correct common name for this spider, and an aptly chosen common name, however, we have encountered two different possible scientific names. FlickR has a beautiful photograph identified as Isopeda insignis, though we would not trust FlickR for scientific accuracy. Another website dedicated to Australian Huntsman Spiders has the species identified as Holconia insignis and states: “This spider is also known as the banded huntsman spider. The male is 25-30 mm and the female 32-40 mm large. This species is one of the largest in its genus in Australia.” The photo with the hand for scale does indicate the size nicely. Thanks for sending your photos.
Banded Huntsman Spider
Deceased huntsman spider with unknown wasp
Location: Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, about 1km away from the pacific ocean.
November 13, 2011 11:45 pm
Hey, I got these series of pictures and this video outside on a warm summers day, on the 14th November, 2011. A warm summer summer in November must mean the southern hemisphere, indeed this image is taken on the eastern suburbs, in Sydney, Australia, about 1km away from the ocean.
Im fairly sure the spider is an huntsman spider but I do not know about the wasp. Does it normally prey on spiders and other large insects ? Where does it nest, and does it pose a threat to humans ?
(I live with my grandparents, and to say they are squeamish about insects is an understatement)
EDIT : I realized that the wasp has been featured previously on this site, however, I shall share these high resolution (if you think they are) images of what I found. I also catch huntsman spiders inside my home and release them too. I shall attach those too, if you wish to share them.
I hope you find the images to be of reasonable quality and I hope they will be useful for your site. You may repost/embed the video to your site too, if you wish.
Signature: Sufyan
Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider
Hi Sufyan,
We actually have this particular Food Chain drama posted to our website several times including this recent posting of a Spider Wasp and its Huntsman Spider prey. We believe the Spider Wasp is Cryptocheilus bicolor, but we do not feel confident trying to identify the Huntsman Spider to the species lever because there are so many Huntsman Spiders in Australia.
Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider
Spider Wasps are solitary wasps, and a female provisions the nest with paralyzed spiders for her brood. The adult Spider Wasps feed upon pollen, and only the larval wasps are carnivores, but they are unable to hunt for themselves. It is important to realize that this Huntsman Spider is paralyzed, not dead. A dead spider would soon dry out, making it an unacceptable food for the larvae. By paralyzing the Huntsman Spider, the living spider supplies the larval wasp with fresh meat. The larva feeds upon non-vital meat first so that the spider is literally eaten alive. Since the nest is underground and we have received so many images of this particular Spider Wasp scaling walls while dragging a large paralyzed Huntsman Spider, we have deduced that the Spider Wasp is unable to take off from the ground with such a heavy payload, but by climbing to gain altitude, it is able to fly or glide towards its burrow with the heavy Spider in tow. Spider Wasps are not aggressive, though we suspect they may sting if provoked or carelessly handled.
Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider
Huge Spider in Costa Rica
Location: Costa Rica near Arenal Volcano
November 3, 2011 9:27 pm
Hi. I’m wondering if you can help me identify this bug. It was in our hotel room in Costa Rica. We were staying at the Arenal Observatory, right next to the Arenal Volcano. It was late May/early June in the middle of the day.
Signature: Freaked Out!
Huntsman Spider, we believe
Dear Freaked Out!,
We are sorry to hear you have still not recovered from this six month old sighting. We believe this is a Huntsman Spider and based on the pedipalps, we believe it is a male. Huntsman Spiders do not build webs, but rather, they stalk their prey, often at night.
Rain spider rescue
Location: Northern suburbs, Gauteng, South Africa
October 21, 2011 5:31 am
Hi WTB
We were helping clean out a house this weekend when someone spotted this beautiful lady… luckily I was able to rescue her and her nest before she was hurt.
From what I can tell, she’s a huntsman spider (called rain spiders here in South Africa), species Palystes Castaneus – would like to know if I’m right though?
Signature: Twistedlizzard
Rain Spider
Hi Twistedlizzard,
We agree that this is a Huntsman Spider, and though we were not familiar with the Rain Spider, Palystes castaneus, our research led us to the Biodiversity Explorerwebsite which tends to indicate you identification is correct. We also are amused with the common name of Lizard Eating Spider for this species. The website states: “These spiders were previously listed as potentially dangerous. After tests where they were induced into biting guinea-pigs it was established that although the guinea-pigs had died within 3 minutes, it had been from shock and not the effects of any venom. For humans, the venom is in fact no worse than a bee sting although the spider’s aggressive display, with its 2 front pairs of banded legs raised in warning, is enough to shrink the stoutest of hearts. They occur usually in vegetation but sometimes occur in the home.”
Rain Spider
Spider in Peru
Location: Peruvian Amazon near the village of Santa Maria, 20 miles from Iquitos
October 13, 2011 12:22 am
Hello, while we were in the Peruvian Amazon last month, we found this spider on one of our beds in our jungle lodge. It was about 3-4 inches in size (including the legs).
Signature: Misa
Huntsman Spider
Dear Misa,
We believe this is a Huntsman Spider or Wandering Spiderthough obviously not the same species we provided a link to. Huntsman Spider or Wandering Spiders are hunting spiders that do not build a web to trap prey. They often hunt nocturnally. Some tropical species are reported to be poisonous to humans.
Huntsman Spider
Thank you! We tried to sweep it out of the room but it just quickly dodged our attempt and stood it’s ground. We eventually had to ask one of the jungle guides to come into the room to get it out. When the jungle guide saw it, he took a quick swat at it to get it off of the bed and repeatedly stepped on it until it eventually died. He then grabbed some toilet paper to pick it up and take it out of the room. This was the complete opposite of how the guides gently handled the other spiders we had encountered, so I can’t help but think this one was poisonous!
spider
Location: Ede, The Netherlands
August 23, 2011 2:04 am
This spider was spotted in the Netherlands last Saturday (20th of August). Including its legs it was about the same size as a streched out hand. I’ve never seen anything like this before, that’s for sure!
Signature: Hello!
Male Huntsman Spider
This appears to us to be a male Huntsman Spider, Heteropoda venatoria, a mainly tropical species that sometimes is introduced to cooler climates because of shipments of bananas and other items. They are not dangerous despite their large size and frightening appearance. They are nocturnal hunters that will prey upon cockroaches.
Dear Daniel,
Thank you for your swift reply! It sure is reassuring to know it only eats cockroaches! 
Kind regards,
Ruben Maas
Hi Ruben,
They will prey upon more than just Cockroaches, though that seems to be a favorite prey for them.
Hi Daniel,
I meant reassuring more in the way that it would not prey on me while I sleep. Most indiginous spiders here are the size of a fingernail, not an entire hand, hence my discomfort 
Cheers, Ruben
In many tropical countries, they are allowed to live in the house. We imagine in The Netherlands, they might not survive the winter outside, but it might survive the winter indoors. Your individual is a male, as evidenced by his large pedipalps, so you don’t need to worry about him laying eggs and being overrun with Huntsman Spiders. If we were you, we would make him a pet. Just warn your visitors who your newest roommate is.
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