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Cane Spider
Heteropoda venatoria
15.4559, 119.921
Field Notes
Description:
Sparassidae; Heteropoda; Heteropoda venatoria Linnaeus, 1767. "Heteropoda venatoria is a species of spider in the family Sparassidae, the huntsman spiders. It is native to the tropical regions of the world, and it is present in some subtropical areas as an introduced species. Its common names include giant crab spider, or cane spider." Wikipedia.
Habitat:
Last night, or I should say this morning at 12:15 a.m. I wandered into the kitchen to make a nice cup of tea - my usual habit if I can't sleep. There on the floor was this magnificent specimen of a spider. So I grabbed my camera and took the pictures that you see here. This big spider didn't even flinch at all the clicking and flashing. He only took off at a pace when I started gently brushing him towards the door with a "walis tambo", a very soft broom here in Philippines, used for light dusting.
Notes:
Wikipedia's description of H. venatoria (which I have not included here) is detailed and correct as far as it goes, but for me something very important is missing. As an amateur (with no formal training in arachnology) the single most significant difference between the female and the male of this species is the two large dark brown patches on the cephalothorax of the latter. These patches give me instant recognition. When I saw that this feature was not mentioned, just an hour ago when I started this spotting, I was thrown into panic, thinking that I had this wrong for years. I scrambled around checking all my old pictures and entries in my personal catalogue before I regained sufficient confidence to continue this spotting. That is what prompted me to crop one my pictures shown here to emphasize these patches. I have a related spotting of a female: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/2097037218
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