Bug card No. 2235 of 4,939

Hieroglyph fairy lynx spider

Hamadruas hieroglyphica

Name means: “from Greek words for a sacred carving, because the marks on its body look like ancient picture writing”

Eats: Other bugs and small animals SpidersForests and woods8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The hieroglyph fairy lynx spider is a long-legged hunting spider from Asia. The marks on its body look a bit like old Egyptian picture writing. Its legs are covered in long spines, like a little brush.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!

Lives in

South and Southeast Asia, including India, Myanmar, China and Taiwan

Length

0.7 to 1.5 cm (0.28 to 0.59 in)

females are much bigger than males

Top speed

about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)

On foot, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Spiders are venomous! Read about spider venom on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?

Like other lynx spiders, it hunts insects on plants instead of catching them in a web.

Photo of Hieroglyph fairy lynx spider — Picture by yipsee. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.4 secondsmoves 28 times its own body length every second

How big is Hieroglyph fairy lynx spider compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)

Hieroglyph fairy lynx spider about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

The female was described in 1887, but nobody described a male until 2009, more than 120 years later.

It was found in Taiwan for the first time in 2024.

The male has a dark green back end with bright white spots.

The female is yellowish brown with five or six pairs of pale spots on her back end.

you asked

Most asked questions about Hieroglyph fairy lynx spider

?How big is the hieroglyph fairy lynx spider?

Females are about 13 to 15 millimetres long. Males are only about half that size.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Hamadruas hieroglyphica
Named by: Thorell, 1887
Group: Spiders
Family: Oxyopidae
Classification: Arachnida > Araneae > Oxyopidae
Lives on: Asia

Where the facts come from

Hamadruas hieroglyphica (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 yipsee. CC0, 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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