Subject: Large spider on a palm trunk
Geographic location of the bug: Macas, Ecuador (Ecuadorian Amazon)
Date: 02/14/2018
Time: 08:29 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: We came across this while hiking in the jungle. Wasn’t able to find a name for it, but the local person we were with suggested it could jump.
How you want your letter signed: Mike Edgerton
Dear Mike,
This is really an interesting Spider, but other than to say it appears to be a hunting spider that does not build a web to entrap prey, we aren’t sure about its identity. Many hunting spiders can jump quite well. It looks very much like the spider in a posting in our archives, also from Ecuador, that we identified as possibly a Wandering Spider in the genus Phoneutria, a venomous and potentially dangerous genus. The spotted legs on your individual look like the spotted legs on an individual in an image on Wikipedia of a Wandering Spider in the genus Phoneutria. There are many images of Brazilian Wandering Spiders on Primal Shutter and we believe that might be a correct identification for your individual.
Thank you for the information. After reading more about the spider, I’m glad it didn’t jump!
Mike