Heteropoda Temporal range:
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Heteropoda maxima | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
Class: | Arachnida |
Order: | Araneae |
Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
Family: | Sparassidae |
Genus: | Heteropoda Latreille, 1804 |
Species | |
189 accepted species; see text. |
Heteropoda is a genus of spiders in the family Sparassidae, the huntsman spiders. They are mainly distributed in tropical Asia and Australia, while at least one species, H. venatoria, has a cosmopolitan distribution,[1] and H. variegata occurs in the Mediterranean.[2]
These spiders catch and eat insects, but in a laboratory study one species readily ate fish and tadpoles when offered.[1] H. venatoria has also been known to eat scorpions and bats.[3]
The largest species in the genus, H. maxima, is about 4.6 centimeters long but has a legspan of up to 30 centimeters, making it the largest of any extant spider.[4]