- Female with brood cocoon
- Another female with brood cocoon
- Female (closeup)
- Female closeup from above
- From above on leaf litter
- From above on black plastic
- From above on leaf litter
- From above on terracotta
- Face on, on terracotta
- Eye pattern
- From above on terracotta
- From above on terracotta
- Another specimen, large female, body length 40mm
- Large female from above
- Large female face on
- Juvenile Huntsman sp. eating another spider
- Heteropoda spiderling facing
Female with brood cocoon
The Brisbane Huntsman is a large, mottled-brown, common, fast-running ground dwelling spider often found in leaf litter. They shelter under bark during the day. They have a flattened body, eight eyes set in two rows of four. All huntsman are nocturnal. At the start of the evening the spiders leave their hiding places and wander around searching for prey which they kill with a bite from strong, curved fangs, most often biting at the neck, hence he name, Males and females look alike, males smaller. Heteropodidae refers to differently (unequally) sized legs. There was a great deal of confusion regarding this species, because of a misidentification as Heteropoda cervina by Ramon Mascord, perpetuated by other authors, including the present one. Heteropoda cervina is restricted to Queensland's central coast.Heteropoda jugulans is particularly common in Brisbane and can be found in probably every house and yard, especially in dark relatively warm places like under compost bins, where the females build their egg sac. ♀ 28mm 24mm
Another female with brood cocoon
Female (closeup)
Female closeup from above
From above on leaf litter
From above on black plastic
From above on leaf litter
From above on terracotta
Face on, on terracotta
Eye pattern
From above on terracotta
From above on terracotta
Another specimen, large female, body length 40mm
Large female from above
Large female face on
Juvenile Huntsman sp. eating another spider
Heteropoda spiderling facing
Small spider, about 3.5mm body length, flushed to the surface of some cork mulch when watering a pot plant. David Hirst, SA Museum writes: "It certainly does have the appearance of a huntsman and I think a juvenile (spiderling) of Heteropoda. Some spiderlings look quite different once they have reached maturity with some some colours & patterns developing with each moult."
