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His Honour Brigadier-General The Honourable J.J. Grant, CMM, ONS, CD (Ret'd), Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia presents Dr. Katrina J. Edwards, University of Southern California with the AG Huntsman Award. The award recognize's excellence in research and outstanding contributions to marine sciences. The award is presented by Royal Society of Canada during a ceremony at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Bedford, Nova Scotia.
Further information on Dr. Edwards is located here: huntsmanaward.org/edwards.html
November 15th, 2012
Image courtesy: Royal Society of Canada
Huntsman spider. (Sparassidae, formerly Heteropodidae). Also known as giant crab spiders, wood spiders, and rain spiders. They are not dangerous although they will bite if handled. They are nocturnal and excellent climbers. They do not build webs, but hunt and eat insects and spiders smaller than themselves. The largest spiders in this family, up to 12 inches across, are found in Asia. The ones in Guatemala reach up to 6 inches across. This one is about 4 inches across. The locals here call them "tarantulas" which they are not. We also have tru tarantulas but locally those are called "araña de caballo".
If someone knows the exact genus and species of this one, please let me know.
See more about Guatemala: www.mayaparaiso.com
Body: 25 mm
Total length: 90 mm
It has got an absurd number of small, separate eyes. I will have to put a dead one under the microscope in order to count them.
Near Mount Barker, Western Australia
This is the biggest huntsman I've ever seen. The rafter it is resting on is about 50mm wide at Fairy Park, Anakie Victoria.
Big huntsman spider (Heteropoda sp.) on a tree trunk. Selangor, Malaysia..
Tropical Spiders: orionmystery.blogspot.com/2012/01/tropical-spiders.html
Unknown huntsman spider from Parc Tropical Farankaraina, Masoala Peninsula, Madagascar. I don't have an ID for this species. Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated!
For an arachnaphobe like me, this is quite an achievement. These spiders like living in houses and even cars, and their large size makes them pretty scary creatures. This was sitting on a fly screen outside a window, so the glass made a nice resting place for the camera (and the long exposure) and protected me from the spider. Actually, it looks less scary seen from closeup - you can even look into its eyes!