Largest spider

Approximately there are 40,000 species of spiders in the world which are classified into 109 families.  Most people are afraid of spider because it looks scary but the truth is that not many spider species can do harm to people. Only few of them are poisonous.

Largest spider belongs to Sparassidae spider Family which holds 1009 separate Huntsman spider species. Spiders of this family are found in warm places of our planet – Africa, Australia, South and Central America, south places of Asia. Also they are found in most parts of Europe.

So the Largest spider is Giant Huntsman spider (Heteropoda maxima). This spider has very long legs if we compare them with a body and it is a yellowish-brown. Giant Huntsman male has a larger cymbium which is even three times larger than tegulum.

Giant Huntsman looks scary but if talking the truth it is not harmful to man at all. It only attacks people when defending himself. The largest spider is not venomous to people and if he bits he only leaves a little red spot on human’s skin. The same looks the bite of other spiders which are not poisonous.

This spider eats mostly insects, also other spiders and small lizards and snakes. It waits for prey to come very close and then he grabs it. That’s a method of hunting which is used by wild predators as well.
The Giant Huntsman spider has a body which is only 4,6 centimeters (1,8 inches) long but it is considered as the largest spider in the world because of its long legs. There is 31 centimeters (12,5 inches) length between its legs.
The Giant Huntsman spider was discovered in Laos in 2001 years. It is surprising that this kind of spider was unknown to people for so long. Knowing this fact we can expect that the largest spider on this planet is still not discovered. It can be discovered in the future.

Former largest spider

The former largest spider is Goliath Birdeater which belongs to tarantula spider group. It doesn’t eat the birds but it was named bird eater because when it was found by explorers in 19 century it was eating hummingbird.

Its habitat is South America rainforests. They usually live in swampy areas where they live in burrows which they dig or which they find abandoned by other animals. Goliath Birdeater Leg-span is up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) but it is kept the second largest spider because Giant Huntsman spider’s leg-span usually is a little bigger. But Goliath Birdeater can be called the largest spider if we talk about weight. It weight about 170 grams (6 ounces).

Goliath Birdeater female is mature in about 3 – 4 year of their life. They can live up to 25 years while males only live for 3 to 6 years. Females lay 100 – 200 spider eggs with hatch in about two months.

Goliath Birdeater is not dangerous to people. It doesn’t attack humans but can bit while defending himself. It has venom but they don’t have serious affect to people. It does approximately so much harm as wasp’s sting.

The second largest spider usually doesn’t eat birds. Usually its diet consists of insects and invertebrates.  Of course it can sometimes eat lizard, snake or bird. But it doesn’t do that regularly. In captivity this spider likes to eat cockroaches and mouse. Best cockroaches for Goliath Birdeater spider diet are Madagascar hissing cockroaches because they are nutritious and fleshy.