Hidden housemates: Australia’s huge and hairy huntsman #spiders #wildlife [#geekgirl]
“You’re driving along and you open the sun visor. You’re cleaning at home and bump a painting hanging on the wall. Suddenly, out runs a huge, hairy spider. Australia’s huntsman spiders are the stuff of myths and nightmares.
But these are also the most interesting of their family, and deserve their place in the pantheon of Australian wildlife.
I study the behavioural ecology of these remarkable spiders. Elsewhere in the world I don’t tell people that I study spiders for a living, but in Australia, I confess that I do brag a little about being a huntsman specialist.
First, let’s talk numbers: there are currently 1,207 species of huntsman spider in the Family Sparassidae, out of the total 45,881 described spider species worldwide. It is estimated that there are 155 huntsman spider species found throughout Australia.
Of those, approximately 95 species are found only in Australia. All of these are probably descended from a single common ancestor that immigrated from Papua New Guinea or elsewhere in Southeast Asia” .
Source and full article: The Conversation