Some huntsman spiders cartwheel down dunes, and one tick like a quartz clock
In Namibia's Namib desert, the wheel spider escapes by curling up and cartwheeling across the sand, while a relative, Cebrennus rechenbergi, flees using handsprings. Both belong to the huntsman spiders, a family of more than a thousand web-free hunters that includes a Laotian species with legs spanning up to 30 centimetres.
Huntsman spiders, family Sparassidae, catch prey by chasing it down rather than trapping it in silk. Their bulk and sideways-splayed legs earn them the name giant crab spiders: instead of bending upright, the legs are twisted so they can reach forward like a crab's. That feature separates them from the hairy tarantulas people often mistake them for. The average leg span reaches about 15 centimetres around a body under 2 centimetres long, but male giant huntsmen in Laos stretch 25 to 30.
They range through warm temperate and tropical regions across Australia, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean and the Americas, and the green huntsman even lives in northern and central Europe. By day they shelter under bark and rocks, but they frequently wander into homes and cars. They sprint fast, sometimes with a springing leap, climb walls and cross ceilings. Tops are drab brown or grey, while many carry bold black and white markings beneath.
Their diet is mostly insects and other invertebrates, occasionally small skinks and geckos, subdued with venom. Picked up, they tend to cling and are then more likely to bite. Females defend egg sacs fiercely, some carrying them beneath the body and others fixing them to plants. Bites usually do not need hospital care.
Courtship can be audible. Male cane huntsmen that detect a female's scent brace themselves and drum their abdomens against the surface, sending out bursts of vibration with a pattern identifying their species. In a quiet room people can hear it as a rhythmic ticking that fades in and out. As of January 2026 the family counted 99 genera and 1,550 species.
Source: Huntsman spider
