Saturday 7 January 2012

A huntsman dining

Huntsman spiders are quite common on our property and often find their way inside the house where they hide behind pictures, blinds, cupboards etc until they venture out to hunt usually at night. If spotted a quick ejection to the outside is usually demanded by the less enthralled by spiders.
Today I spotted one that had just run down its prey and was in the middle of its meal which kept it busy and not to worried about being in the open.

Holconia sp
Spiders in the Huntsman family Heteropodidae are widespread in Australia with 13 genera and some 94 described species, of which we have found a few but I am not all that certain of the specific species although more certain of the genera.
The prominent eight eyes, four on the top edge of the carapace and four on the front of the carapace provide excellent vision to enable the running down of their prey,
Prominent top four eyes and one of the front four just visible; note the fang on left

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