Fireback huntsman (Beregama cordata)

Fireback huntsmen are a smaller species of huntsman and are common throughout rainforests from northern new south wales to far north Queensland. They live high up in the rainforest trees and palm leaves but venture around through the night to hunt and look for a mate. Fireback huntsmen construct a nest utilising silk to anchor leaves together to live in throughout the day, moult in and incubate eggs.

Fireback huntsmen, like other species, are extremely fast and can run sideways and squeeze through small crevices with their flattened bodies. They hunt with sensory hairs (setae), which let the huntsman pick up tiny air movements and vibrations that could be coming from potential prey.

This species lays eggs within an egg sac. The mother constructs a nest using silk to hold leaves in place and stays with the eggs until they hatch. The slings hatch after a month or two, and hundreds of spiderlings may emerge from a single egg sac. The spiderlings cluster around the mother for a week or two after they emerge and don't eat each other at this stage. Once they leave, if the slings find each other, this usually results in cannibalism.

Like all other invertebrates, huntsmen moult their exoskeleton periodically to grow larger. To moult, the huntsman requires enough vertical space and a dark, quiet area without disturbances such as predators. The moulting process can take between 10 and 40 minutes; smaller huntsmen take less time to moult. It's easy to distinguish males from females once the huntsmen mature as the males have large and swollen pedipalps and are generally less brightly coloured, and have a smaller body while having the same body length.