An international team of scientists has named the Australian huntsman spider Heteropoda jugulans the fastest of 258 species studied. It can reach speeds of up to 3.59 m/s, or almost 13 km/h, reports Science & Vie.
Researchers from Imperial College London and their colleagues studied representatives of 258 spider species from 64 families. For the experiments, they collected 162 species, measured the mass of each spider, then released it onto marked paper and recorded its speed of movement. Sluggish individuals were prompted with a brush, and large tarantulas with short jets of compressed air.
It emerged that the speed of spiders depends not only on body size. The fastest species had legs that were longer relative to their bodies, whereas the thickness of the limbs gave no noticeable advantage.
The previous record belonged to the Moroccan spider Cebrennus rechenbergi, which reached speeds of up to 1.7 m/s. However, it moved in an unusual way, performing somersaults, which led specialists to debate whether such movement could be considered running.
Heteropoda jugulans moves in the way usual for spiders, on eight legs. Weighing about 3 grams, it has become the new speed record holder among the species studied.
