Preprint Study Finds Brown Huntsman Spiders Fastest Among 258 Species

Abc reported that a preprint study posted on bioRxiv found Australia's brown huntsman spiders to be the fastest among 258 species examined. The spiders reached a top speed of 3.59 metres per second. The UK and German research team placed spiders from 162 species in a box lined with grid paper.

A high-speed camera recorded their movement from above after researchers touched the animals with a paintbrush or blunt object. Data for 96 additional species came from earlier studies conducted in North America, other parts of Europe, and Australia. The huntsman spider tested had a mass of about 1 milligram.

It moved faster than the smaller money spider Maso sundevalli and the much larger salmon pink bird eater Lasiodora parahybana, which weighed 51 grams. Christofer Clemente, a biomechanics researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast, supplied huntsman spider data from his 2021 study published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A.

That earlier work examined spider locomotion driven by hydraulic pressure in the legs.

Clemente stated that 3.59 metres per second represents the absolute top speed for huntsman spiders and is comparable to a human jogging, though only for a fraction of a second. He noted that the mean speed over a full run remained faster than any other species measured. Two species of brown huntsman spider occur in south-east Queensland: Heteropoda jugulans and Heteropoda cervina.

Abc reported that huntsman spiders are harmless to humans and commonly found in homes across eastern Australia. Clemente said more research could identify the exact species through DNA testing. He expressed greater interest in using models and robotics to study how spiders move and what limits their speed.