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Huntsman spider

Heteropoda venatoria

Description:

Brown, hairy, long legs

Habitat:

Florida panhandle, near forested area

2 Species ID Suggestions

redyellgrn99
redyellgrn99 11 years ago
Brown Widow
Latrodectus geometricus Latrodectus geometricus
bugadrienne
bugadrienne 11 years ago
Huntsman spider
Heteropoda venatoria File:Heteropoda venatoria male.JPG


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7 Comments

redyellgrn99
redyellgrn99 11 years ago

I'm terrified of them now. I don't kill them though. No matter how scary, we all deserve a chance to live. While I have a spider person on, I'd like your help identifying a spider I've found today. My only possible guess is a Brown Widow (but probably not). Here's the link:

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/212...

Thanks. I'll also follow you.

bugadrienne
bugadrienne 11 years ago

No problem. I just don't want to see an innocent spider get hurt. I really have been looking for some. They have been found in my neighborhood but I can only turn up dead ones that people killed in their homes.

The Huntsman doesn't know what it is missing. If it turned up in my home, I would feed and house it well. LOL

I used to be terrified of them when I was younger as they are so large and fast. I have come to love spiders and other arthropoda recently for some strange reason.

redyellgrn99
redyellgrn99 11 years ago

Whoops. Sorry. I'm new at this. However, I did Google "Brown Widow" and it did look similar. Oh well.

bugadrienne
bugadrienne 11 years ago

I am terrible at forming links but there are some better photos of H. venatoria on Bugguide.net. The link I posted only shows the male. The female is brown without the black markings.

bugadrienne
bugadrienne 11 years ago

That is surely not a brown widow. Even if it were, a brown widow's bite isn't nearly as dangerous as the black widow's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_...
It doesn't look medically significant at all. It really looks like a female Heteropoda venatoria. I have been looking for a pair to keep as pets. Catch her and send her my way. I am serious.

redyellgrn99
redyellgrn99 11 years ago

I say, "Get that thing out of your house! It may be a Brown Widow!"

bugadrienne
bugadrienne 11 years ago

Hard to tell with the spiders position. What size is it? Maybe Sparassidae.

27clark07
Spotted by
27clark07

Springfield, Florida, USA

Spotted on Apr 10, 2013
Submitted on Apr 11, 2013

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