Spring is peaking, summer is coming, and this week in Wollongong, the humidity is stifling. Though the wet, warm air may make us humans a little crabby, other creatures revel in it, breed and thrive in it. An arthropod’s biggest fear is as follows:
1. Getting eaten by something bigger or more sinister than it and,
2. Desiccating in dry heat.
This humid weather has the flies and cockroaches proliferating, scuttering and/or buzzing through our homes. Luckily, there are other arthropods who enjoy this balmy weather and also happen to enjoy eating these pesky pest insects. In fact, cockroaches are a particular favourite of the huntsman spider.
Huntsmans are rather misunderstood. They possess all the necessary criteria for elevating the heart rate of any arachnophobe. Large, with long hairy legs, eight visible eyes, rapid, scurrying movements and a penchant for hiding in unfortunate and unexpected places. No one, not even an avid arthropod-lover such as myself, can avoid the heart palpitations that come after opening the car sun visor to find a set of eight eyes and legs staring back at your face, a mere foot away.
Despite their troublesome appearance, their hair-raising way of moving and their tendency to enter our homes, huntsmans are harmless to humans. They only bite if provoked, though like most spiders, they are more likely to try to escape. Their venom rarely causes any reaction in humans and they are quite shy of humans.
Aptly named, they do not catch their prey in webs, instead ‘hunting’ them by lying in ambush or chasing after them with their considerable speed. Huntsman spiders comprise the family Sparassidae with over 1000 globally distributed species. Australia hosts 94 known species of huntsmans with many yet to be described and their presence is widely distributed throughout the country.
Huntsmans have long been confused with tarantulas, but differ in the leg department. Huntsmans are laterally compressed, with twisted leg joints that allow the legs to bend on the lateral plane. This arrangement facilitates easy movement in small crevices, between logs, behind bark and behind the car sun visor, some of their favourite places to hang out. It also allows the spiders to move very quickly in any direction, and subsequently scaring the bejesus out of unsuspecting humans.
More than the fact that huntsmans help to rid my house of cockroaches, my appreciation for these spiders stems mainly from their breeding and social behaviours that hold some fascinating resonance to human behaviour.
They are romantic creatures; female huntsmans typically do not harm the males during mating and the pair undergo courtship prior to mating that includes mutual caresses and tapping. This is followed by a very lengthy consummation that lasts from one to eight hours! Come to think of it, huntsman behaviour is not particularly comparable to human behaviour…
After mating, the female lays around her eggs in a papery white sac, which she guards, without eating, for around three weeks. She will stay with her hatchlings, raising them for several weeks after they emerge. They are long-lived spiders, living up to two years, with the exception of the Australian golden huntsman (Beregama aurea), the second largest huntsman in the world, which lives for about 3.5 years.
Unlike most spiders, huntsmans are quite social and some species in particular, like Delena cancerides, can live in peaceful communes of up to 300 individuals, with females raising their young together and even sharing food.
Sign me up, I want to join a wholesome spider commune!
Though, maybe not with this particular species as they do not tolerate outsiders and often cannibalise members of other communities.
I can’t lie, even writing this article has caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise involuntarily. And I never fail to get a shock when I come into contact with one of these massive, stealthy spiders.
But, once my heart rate comes down a little, and I remind my conscious brain that they are harmless and beneficial for our cockroach problem, I remember that I do appreciate them. I may even be a little fond of them and their romantic, community-focussed proclivities.
Who doesn't love a good jump-scare anyway?
