Cane Spider

Description:

Sparassidae; Heteropoda; H. venatoria L. 1767. This specimen is a female. This might be the biggest H. venatoria I have seen, but I can't be sure. It looks to be a little over 4 inches wide (including the legs). I can be sure it is a female because of the yellow Clipeus and the rather plain drab colouring. Males of this species are more beautifully patterned especially on the Carapace and the dorsal surface of the Opisthosoma. According to Wikipedia the males also have longer legs.

Habitat:

I spotted this Cane Spider on the roof of our car, in a really nice position for some pictures. So I dashed into the house to get my camera, but when I came out, my wife pointed to the spider which was now running across the concrete carport floor. Not much of a background for pictures and not much in terms of a habitat. However, I should mention that I must have seen something between 50 and 100 of this species in our immediate area in the last 20 years. I have seen them in the terrace, the carport, my little workshop, on the walls of my dog's kennel and numerous other places. The point I am trying make is that this spider lives comfortably in and around human settlements and infrastructure. I cannot recall seeing any during my little walkabouts when I occasionally go bug hunting in the lesser inhabited areas.

Notes:

Related Spotting: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/25...