Anna Hartz
Researchers compare 162 spiders to find the fastest runner
Spiders come in many different sizes and shapes. Some are built to hide and wait for prey, while others rely on speed to catch food or escape danger. A new study has taken a closer look at how fast different spider species can run.
Australian spider wins the race
Researchers have identified what they believe is the fastest spider in the world based on laboratory tests.
The winner was the Australian brown huntsman spider, also known by its scientific name, Heteropoda jugulans. The spider reached a speed of 3.59 meters per second, according to Videnskab. That is almost 13 kilometers per hour.
According to New Scientist, the findings come from a research paper that has not yet been peer reviewed or officially published.
The brown huntsman was much faster than the spider that previously held the record.
Second place went to the flic-flac spider, Cebrennus rechenbergi. It reached a speed of 1.7 meters per second. This species is known for escaping predators by flipping its body into a rolling motion instead of simply running.
To carry out the study, researchers collected 162 spiders from Britain, North America, Southern Europe and Australia. They also obtained several spiders from pet stores.
The larger the faster
Each spider was carefully weighed before being tested. The researchers measured how quickly the spiders could move across sheets of A4 or A3 graph paper. The goal was to better understand how body weight and leg length affect running speed.
Not every spider was willing to cooperate.
Some spiders started running when researchers gently touched them with a small paintbrush. Others refused to move. The researchers even used small bursts of air to encourage larger species, including tarantulas, to run.
One of the study’s authors, Shreyas Kuchibhotla, joked that the project would have been finished in a month if spiders understood English.
The researchers found that larger spiders were generally faster than smaller ones. They believe the brown huntsman performs so well because it is large enough to generate speed without putting too much strain on its legs.
One surprising exception was the tiny spider Oonops pulcher. It weighs only about 0.1 milligrams but was still able to travel more than 20 centimeters every second, making it an impressive runner for its size.
