Heteropoda
| Heteropoda Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Heteropoda maxima | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Sparassidae |
| Genus: | Heteropoda Latreille, 1804 |
| Species | |
|
189 accepted species; see text. | |
Heteropoda is a genus of spiders in the family Sparassidae (the huntsman spiders). They are mainly distributed in tropical Asia and Australia, while at least one species, H. venatoria, has a cosmopolitan distribution, and H. variegata occurs in the Mediterranean.
These spiders catch and eat insects, but in a laboratory study one species readily ate fish and tadpoles when offered. H. venatoria has also been known to eat scorpions and bats.
The largest species in the genus, H. maxima, is about 4.6 centimeters long but has a legspan of up to 30 centimeters, making it the largest of any extant spider.