Brown Huntsman Spider Crowned Fastest of 258 Species

A study posted on the pre-print server bioRxiv on June 15 ranked running speeds across 258 spider species, with the brown huntsman spider (Heteropoda jugulans or H. cervina) from eastern Australia taking the top spot at about eight miles per hour. The research, not yet peer-reviewed, was led by Shreyas Kuchibhotla (Imperial College London), Jonas Wolff (University of Greifswald, Germany), and others. Live spiders were nudged with a paintbrush or pencil, or blown with compressed air, and filmed with high-speed cameras. The brown huntsman's speed data came from a 2021 study by Christofer Clemente (University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia). The orange goblin spider (Oonops pulcher), weighing 0.1 milligrams, reached 0.45 mph. The study suggests running speed increases with size up to a threshold, then drops due to mechanical constraints. The brown huntsman dethroned the Moroccan flic-flac spider (Cebrennus rechenbergi), which had held the record since 2009 at 3.8 mph by tumbling. Researchers note faster huntsman species may exist.