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Today I took a trip to the remote Goa Kasah caves here in Kerinci, Sumatra. We came across this incredible white spider while we were inside! It was about 4 inches in length.
Inside a cave in the Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia.
On first glance, I assumed this was some sort of bizarre cave-dwelling spider with some very unique adaptations. Unfortunately, it was too high up on the cave wall to be able to study it well. I immediately posted the photo when I got home, and a friend suggested that it could be a spider covered in a fungus. A close inspection of a hard crop did seem to show similar patterns on the legs with another type of spider we came across in the cave (which you can see in the last picture). So in the end, this seems to be a variety of Huntsman spider (Sparassidae) infected with a pathogenic fungus, possibly a type of Cordyceps. What a horrific way to go!
Langford, if you read what I wrote, I describe where it was. There's also a clearly marked map as well...
Leana: I'm guessing that the spider in the third image is the same species, but I don't know for sure.
Amazing! In this video (near the end) there is a cordyceps species on a spider that looks like yours. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBA...
Poor spider :( How about the third photo luke.mackin, is that how it looks like without the fungus?
Thanks, everyone. I'm definitely leaning towards a fungal growth as well. Would love an identification of the fungus! How bizarre!
At first I though it was going to be something similar to Heteropoda davidbowie, but I think the zoom clearly shows those filaments to be fungal structures. Cool spotting!
You can kind of see the stripes through the white in the second picture, I think it's the same spider you were encountering but covered in fungus.
Spotted on Jun 1, 2013
Submitted on Jun 1, 2013
