Rain Spider

[phoenix911]

hi

Can anyone tell me how you differentiate between a male and female rain spider?

also, what do they eat?

Much appreciated

[wildtuinman]

By default the female spiders are bigger than the males.

Maybe some more expert person can tell us what they eat.

[david]

the females are often recognised by the width of the abdomen being greater than the width of the cephalothorax. In males it is the other way around - the cephalothorax is wider than the abdomen. However, if a female has just laid her eggs, it will be probably difficult to determine gender (unless you were naughty and watched her in her private moments of birth giving tsk tsk) as the abdomen will then almost certainly be narrower.

Eating... insects, moths, flies, roaches, naughty children etc. Often their activity is increased by rain, so on rainy evenings, they often come into dwellings, attracted by the insects which are attracted by the lights.

easy way to get rid of them, rather than playing squash, is use a large glass bottle, (clear glass is better) and place it over them, slide paper underneath, walk to your garden wall, and fling it in your neighbours direction.....

[DuQues]

Family: Sparassidae (previously Heteropodidae)

Phylum: Arthropoda,
subphylum Chelicerata,
class Arachnida,
order Araneae,
suborder Araneomorpha

In South Africa the Sparassidae include 7 genera; Eusparassus, Heteropoda, Olios, Palystes, Panaretella, Parapalystes and Pseudomicrommata. Olios, Palystes and Parapalystes are the most common genera in the Western Cape. Palystes common names include huntsman spiders, rain spiders, lizard-eating spiders and large wandering crab spiders.

This family contains very large hairy spiders with legs all turned sideways and forwards so the spiders can move sideways as well as straight ahead. The outer segments of each leg have dense scopulae which facilitate lateral movements. The typical body and leg colours are grey, brown and black, often with enough mottling to provide useful camouflage when the spiders are resting on bark surfaces. It is usual to find huntsman spiders under bark, although they will sometimes be found on the walls of man-made constructions.
They are very fast-moving, and they can deliver a painful bite. Please note that ALL true spiders have a certain amount of venom. Although most people are not affected by this species, some people may be allergic to the venom, or just more sensitive, making it a dangerous situation. This is one of the reasons that people should not handle this true spider. Affects of this true spiders' natural defenses may vary between people.

Palystes occurs mainly on plants where it hunts various insects but is also regularly found in the home where they are fond of hunting Geckos (usually the common Marbled gecko, Afrogecko porphyreus). Spiderlings eat flightless fruit flies, and pinhead crickets. Adults eat crickets, and other large insects.

[Tshwene]

Ps did you know that the rain spider can bite, females are very protective of the eggs. a bite can cause nausea, pain, swelling and palpitation. also known as huntsman spider

[Crested Val]

This oke was seen near Kruger in 2013.

I had assumed it was a rain spider, but since there has been an ID request on Facebook, it seems there are various spiders who are similar.

Many thanks.

[Elsa]

From my book it looks like one of the Rain spiders, but then again I'm not a spider expert.

[pnm]

My wife found this insect nest? in Lake Panic Hide in December. It looks like a caddis fly nest but it is not under water. Could somebody please help with ID. I am most puzzled. I couldn't find anything on Google to help me.

Regards
Pete

[PAPA SMURF]

Hi there pnm
This looks very much like the nest of the rain spider ([i]Heteropodidia Palystes castaneus[i] and quoting from Martin R. Filmer's book "South African Spiders An Identification Guide ";-
'The egg sack known as a bag of leaves serves as a nursery for newly hatched spiderlings. It. It is guarded by the female."

Once the youngsters go on their merry way so does mom and in your photo if mom was around she would have been hiding at the back.

Hope this is of some help
cheers