Brown huntsman spider clocked as potentially fastest spider on Earth

A study of over 250 spider species recorded the Australian brown huntsman at 3.59 m/s, a pace that may make it the fastest spider yet measured.

• Scientists collected 162 spider species and included data from a 2021 study by Dr Christofer Clemente, measuring running speeds with cameras and gridded tracks.
• The brown huntsman reached a peak speed of 3.59 m/s (13 km/h), surpassing the previous record of 1.7 m/s held by the Moroccan flic-flac spider.
• Clemente said the top speed lasted only a fraction of a second, and the spider’s average sustained speed was approximately 2 m/s.
• Dr Jonas Wolff, a lead author, said the research constitutes the broadest comparative study of spider running speed ever conducted.