Giant banded huntsman

Giant banded huntsmen are among us and are one of Australia's largest spiders, growing up to a body length of over 30mm and a leg span around 150mm. They are common throughout eastern Australia in most habitats, even including human homes . They feed on various other invertebrates and even small vertebrates such as small mice, geckos and frogs.

Giant banded 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. They secure the egg sac under loose tree bark and stay with their 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 in order 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 anywhere between 10 and 40 minutes; smaller huntsmen do take less time to moult, though. 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 during the same body length.