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Sticker of Papuan hermit spider
Bug card No. 3255 of 4,939

Papuan hermit spider

Nephilengys papuana
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersRainforests and jungles8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Papuan hermit spider is a big spider from New Guinea and northern Australia. The female is a giant compared to the male. She is almost five times longer than him.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
New Guinea and tropical Queensland in Australia
Length
0.6 to 2.8 cm (0.24 to 1.1 in)
males are much smaller than females
Top speed
about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It catches insects that fly into its web.
For real!Photo of Papuan hermit spider
Picture by Summerdrought. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Papuan hermit spider about 2.8 cm long (1.1 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.8 seconds

How big is Papuan hermit spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

A female is about 28 millimetres long, but a male is only about 6 millimetres.

2

Its name comes from Papua, part of the big island of New Guinea.

3

It used to be counted as a kind of another hermit spider, but now it is its own species.

you asked

Most asked questions about Papuan hermit spider

?How big is the Papuan hermit spider?

Females are about 28 millimetres long, while males are only about 6 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Nephilengys papuana
Group
Spiders
Family
Nephilidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Nephilidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Nephilengys papuana (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 Summerdrought. 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: Rainforests and jungles

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