Huntsman - Sparassidae family - Arandisa deserticola

[Gilbertr14]

Hello

Does anyone know what this beauty is

Seen in Tankwa Karoo this week.

[Johan van Rensburg]

Gilbertr14, your striking spider has made me realise that my spider resources are inadequate and that an investment into something more substantial will be required. Anyhow, after much page-turning I got stuck and eventually resorted to "phoning friends". I got the following reply from Astri Leroy, a co-founder of the Spider Club of SA:

"It is indeed a huntsman spider in the spider family Sparassidae and this one looks like Arandisa deserticola which is a dry-country special, found in the more arid parts of western and southern Africa. A very handsome species. It may be immature so cannot tell its gender."

I hope that helps. Even after having the scientific name, finding more information was not possible. Not much has been published about this beautiful spider... quite a pity!

[Gilbertr14]

Thanks Johan for the effort, it is greatly appreciated.

You are correct it is a beautiful creature. It lived in the bathroom, alongside the mice in the kitchen, gecko/lizard in the room, birds under the awnings and bats on the porch.

Was quite tame, never bothered us. Always interesting to see where he had moved the next day.

The black is the soot from the kerosene lanterns, which he frequented on both sides of the bathroom, which led me to believe he knew it attracted insects, and waited for them there to catch.