Question for Arachno-philes

Janset if you look under the front left leg towards the rear, is a node and if that node is also brown and fury with 3 dark rings to the left of centre you should now drop the spider and run very fast because you could get bitten by either a wolf spider or a hunts man .

Hope this helps

All the best
EricCape York Connections

A full grown wolf (or barking) spider is MUCH bigger around the body and leg thickness than a huntsman.

If you were to compare the two different species at similar size (and therefore different maturity) I think that you would find the wolf to be much hairier, and its two "fangs" much more pronounced.

When threatened a Wolf spider will generally raise its two front sets of legs in a very aggressive stance, while propping on it's hind sets.

A wolf spider will also make a "barking" noise (hence the alternative name) when acting aggresively.

Please note that I am not a true arachno-phile, this is only from info I have gatherd over the years. More than happy to be proven wrong.

Janset

Me how do I tell the difference.

Any spider that size that invades my domain, I tread on/swat or otherwise severely disable with any possible method available to me. Then I can tell that it is dead.

Thats the difference.

I am arachno- phobic, not arachno-philic? (not sure about the philic bit)

Don't mean to offend the arachno-philes.
CheersPT

We were driving out along one of the tributaries of the Fitzmaurice River, NT, through the tall grass. Aircon was off and windows open. Then for some reason I looked in my rear vision mirror and lo and behold here was a Wolf Spider crawling on the roof lining towards us. I indicated to the navigator not to look back and to jump out when I gave the word. We abandoned the truck in haste much to the surprise and consternation of those following us. We then managed to coax the spider out of the car. It stood there in the grass, reared up on some of its hind legs with its fangs extended and barked at us. We left it in peace and moved on. Needless to say the aircon came on and windows were closed for a while............

Cheers,
Willem
Out on the Gibber

your all a bunch of wooossiesWow, am I cute! The extra long legs are built-in prevention against ducks disease. Great looks and a real goer. Doesnt waddle along like some.

Janset, they are quite different when you read their description in the Aust Spider Watch, but when faced with either I would agree that fear tends to blend them into the same "killer spider' description!!

Size and structure on both spiders is quite different apart from the hairy factor.

The wolf spider (sounds too small) but is about 35mm for the female while the hunts man can grow upto 160mm.

Structurely the wolf is very symetrical with evenly spaced powerful looking legs, while the Huntsman is very flat and the legs articulate for ward instead of downward, to enable crawling in very flat spaces. The legs on the huntsman are also odd sized, the front 2 being upto twice the lenght of the rear 2! Again giving that flat forward pointing look!

Both are not harmful to humans but can inflict a painful and occasionaly nausiating bite!

Hope that helps!

Matt.

Being a complete Arachnophobe and having had several previous unpleasant encounters with huntsmans, you guys are making me nervous!!!

How often do you actually see large spiders in desert areas?

I have been close to snakes, crocs, sharks and other nasties and they don't bother me too much. Sharks I view from a Game Fishing boat. Crocs I view from a barra boat. Snakes I look out for when bushwalking and give a wide berth.

Spiders seem to have a habit of taking you by surprise!!

I wonder if it is too late to cancel that order with Toyota...........

StevenLPlaydoe GXL TD Manual
It's on order, Delivery in April '04.
This pic will have to do till then. Can't wait!!!

http://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

cut and paste if link doesn't work.

Rgds

Hi all .

Thanks to all who contributed.

Shortgq, your site is just what I was looking for. A picture says a thousand words.

What prompted my request was that I found one very large (Larger that in the picture) brownish hairy spider in the lounge sitting on the wall also watching TV.

I now know it to be a Huntsman. Most of the other larger spiders found in the past in the house have been Wolf spiders.

Here is a point that may be worth remembering in future relating to Huntsman spiders.

I was working in the country, Collie, when a large greyish spider ran onto, and stopped in the middle of the lino office floor. Not wanting to make a squishy mess by stepping on it I decided upon fly spray to dispatch it and would retrieve his carcase later on I thought.

I took careful aim and hit the jet......surprise surprise, millions of tiny spiders that muma had been carringing on her back decided to abandon ship. I have never seen anything like this before, the floor was covered with moving specs.

Having grown older and wiser, I now do not kill spider if possible, I place a glass over them, slide a piece of paper under the upturned glass and capture the spider in the glass.

I then frighten the heeby jeebies out of the wife for a bit of entertainment. See spider do have their purposes :-)))

Regards