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Sticker of Queen of the huntsmen
Bug card No. 3461 of 4,939

Queen of the huntsmen

Pediana regina
Name means: “the queen”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersForests and woods8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The queen of the huntsmen is a spider from Australia that hides under loose tree bark. It is tan or brownish grey with darker freckles and bands on its legs. Sitting still on a tree trunk, it is very hard to see.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Eastern and western Australia, in eucalyptus forests
Top speed
about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It eats insects that live on bark and smaller spiders. It does not build a web but hunts them on foot.
For real!Photo of Queen of the huntsmen
Picture by Andrew Carnahan. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its other name, bark huntsman, has nothing to do with barking. It means it hides under tree bark.

2

It is the only huntsman in its group that hunts in the daytime. Its cousins hunt at night.

3

With its legs spread out, a female measures about 25 millimetres across and a male about 19 millimetres.

4

Its two front legs are a little longer than the others.

5

It even makes its nest under the bark of trees, old stumps and logs.

you asked

Most asked questions about Queen of the huntsmen

?Where does the queen of the huntsmen live?

In Australia, under loose bark in eucalyptus forests, often at the bottom of trees or on old logs.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pediana regina
Named by
L. Koch
Group
Spiders
Family
Sparassidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Sparassidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Bark huntsman, Queen of huntsmen spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Pediana regina (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Andrew Carnahan. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Spiders

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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