The Shield Spider / Badge Huntsman

…..Neosparassus diana (Koch, 1875)

This spider of the Sparassidae family is known as the Shield spider or Badge Hunstman. It hunts at night, usually on tree trunks and among foliage. By day it will be hidden away under some loose bark or even under stones. It has been known to occasionally come into houses. The one photographed below was certainly trying to come into my house as it was found on the back screen door. Fortunately it couldn’t figure out how to pull the handle :-)

These spiders are fairly widespread here in Tasmania and also occur on the Australian mainland. The colour can range from yellowish brown to orange. The female’s body length can be up to 22mm and the male 17mm. It has two straight rows of eyes with the eyes at the back being smaller. Between the two rows of eyes are some yellowish white hairs which to me gives the appearance of eye brows.

Another identifying feature is the ‘badge’ on the ventral surface of the abdomen. While this badge can vary a bit, it basically consists of a black area with two white spots. As I did not fancy holding the spider on it’s back while taking it’s photo, I have instead drawn a rough picture of the ‘badge’ which I have included below.

The photos below were taken with a Canon 7D and Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens.

_{( All photos, videos, and text on this blog are by @mostly.nature )}

This is a little drawing I did on the computer to illustrate the ventral, badge like mark of this spider. Next time I see one I might try and photograph the underside through some glass.

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