Australian lichen spider
Pandercetes gracilis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersRainforests and jungles8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin
The Australian lichen spider is a huntsman spider that is a master of hiding. It sits quietly among moss and lichen on tree bark, where its colours blend right in. When an insect comes close, it pounces.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Queensland in Australia, New Guinea, Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands, in rainforests
What does it eat?
It catches insects and other small animals by jumping on them from its hiding place.
How fast is it?
Australian lichen spider about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
There are many different colour forms of this spider.
2
Unlike a squid, it cannot change colour whenever it likes. Its colour is set each time it sheds its skin.
3
It does not build a web to catch food. It lies in wait and ambushes.
you asked
Most asked questions about Australian lichen spider
?How does the lichen spider catch food?
It hides among moss and lichen and pounces on insects that come close.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pandercetes gracilis
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Sparassidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Sparassidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania, Asia
- Also known as
- Lichen huntsman spider, Lichen spider
Where the facts come from
- Pandercetes gracilis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Summerdrought. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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