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The Goliath birdeater is native to the upland rainforest regions of Northern South America: Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, northern Brazil, eastern Colombia, and southern Venezuela. Most noticeable in the Amazon rainforest, the spider is terrestrial, living in deep burrows, and is found commonly in marshy or swampy areas. It is a nocturnal ...
Larger species sometimes are referred to as wood spiders, because of their preference for woody places (forests, mine shafts, woodpiles, wooden shacks). In southern Africa the genus Palystes are known as rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders . [ 4 ]
Palystes is a genus of huntsman spiders, commonly called rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders, [2] occurring in Africa, India, Australia, and the Pacific. [1] The most common and widespread species is P. superciliosus , found in South Africa, home to 12 species in the genus.
About 15 species of spiders are scientifically described as being edible, with a history of human consumption. [2] These edible spiders include: Thailand zebra leg tarantula (Cyriopagopus albostriatus) which is sold fried as traditional snack in Cambodia and Thailand; Thailand Black (Cyriopagopus minax); Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi);
The size of these spiders, combined with the yellow and black banding on the underside of the legs exposed when the spider is in threat pose, give them a fearsome appearance. [ 1 ] [ 4 ] An experiment was done in 1959 where a Palystes superciliosus was allowed to bite an adult guinea pig on the nose.
Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini) is an orb-weaver spider that produces the largest known orb webs, ranging from 900 to 28,000 square centimetres (140 to 4,340 sq in), [2] [3] with bridge lines spanning up to 25 metres (82 ft).
In scrub outside forested areas, it is replaced by Palystes superciliosus. It occurs mainly on plants, where it hunts insects. It occurs mainly on plants, where it hunts insects. It has a body length of 17–22 mm. [ 2 ] P. castaneus is the type species for the genus Palystes , and was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1819.
Wandering spiders are known to hunt large prey, for example hylid species Dendropsophus branneri. [3] Despite their notoriety for being dangerous, only a few members of Phoneutria have venom known to be hazardous to humans, but the venoms of this family are poorly known, [ 4 ] so all larger ctenids should be treated with caution.