280 days of Urbpandemonium #72
When someone tells me they found a big spider, I prepare myself for a Carolina wolf spider, a nursery web spider, or maybe a big Agelena. I was genuinely surprised to see this one. My first thought was maybe a huntsman--an indoor hitchhiker on a tropical plant sent up from a nursery in Florida.
Then I thought maybe it was a Carolina wolf spider--I don't see them that often, so I'm not too familiar with their field markings. This one has nice big forward-facing eyes, as wolf spiders do.
Captured and contained, it seemed so much smaller. We were able to examine it a bit closer, and a friend identified it as a brown huntsman, Heteropoda venatoria*, a lone male that was minding its own business many miles from home. Now he's in a terrarium--not an ideal situation, but better than a smear on the wall. These large (by New England standards) flat spiders don't spin webs but rather ambush prey in the dark. Their shape allows them to pursue cockroaches and other under-bark insects into their hiding places.
*Heteropoda (Greek) venatoria (Latin) translates to 'hunter with unequal legs.'