science
Australian huntsman spider reaches 3.59 metres per second in lab test
A Queensland huntsman spider recorded the highest sustained running speed among 162 species tested in a new study. Researchers measured 236 live specimens and combined results with published data for 96 additional species.
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A huntsman spider collected in Queensland reached a top speed of 3.59 metres per second during controlled laboratory trials, making it the fastest arachnid measured in the study. Researchers from the University of Greifswald and Imperial College London tested 236 spiders representing 162 species collected from the UK, Australia, North America, southern Europe, and pet shops.
They recorded maximum sustained running speeds on grid-marked paper while filming the movements. The same study found that running speed increased with body mass across the tested spiders. The slowest recorded speed was 0.018 metres per second for a 1-milligram money spider, while the Queensland huntsman spider set the upper limit.
Body size and leg length Speed also correlated with relative leg length after accounting for body size and shared ancestry. Two spiders of identical 200-milligram body mass showed a 28-fold difference in top speed, illustrating that mass alone does not determine performance.
The study noted that habitat and posture—whether a species hunts on the ground or in foliage and whether it moves upright or upside down—also relate to running capability. The findings were posted on the preprint server bioRxiv and have not yet undergone peer review.
