Brown Huntsman Beats Record as World’s Fastest Spider

On July 9 2026 researchers announced that the brown huntsman (*Heteropoda jugulans*), a common house spider along Australia’s east coast, achieved a peak speed of 3.59 m/s (13 km/h, 8 mph). This exceeds the previously cited record of the Moroccan flic-flac spider, which reaches 1.7 m/s by tumbling downhill. In the laboratory, the huntsman’s average sustained speed was about 2 m/s, still faster than the typical human walking pace of 4–6 mph.

The Guardian

The investigation measured running speeds of 162 spider species collected mainly around London and Greifswald, Germany, and supplemented the data with earlier studies to cover more than 250 species worldwide. Researchers used high-speed cameras and a gridded paper track to record each spider’s sprint. The analysis showed that speed does not correlate directly with size; instead, a body-mass threshold exists beyond which mechanical constraints reduce velocity. Larger spiders can be fast provided their abdomen does not become overly burdensome, and long legs contribute positively to speed. Web-building spiders were not uniformly slower than active hunters such as huntsmen.

The Guardian

Dr Christofer Clemente, an evolutionary biomechanist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, explained that spiders combine muscular contraction with hydraulic pressure to extend their limbs, a locomotor strategy distinct from most animals. He noted that the brown huntsman appears to sit near an optimal “sweet spot” of leg length and body mass for rapid movement, though he cautioned that further testing of other huntsman species is needed. Dr Jonas Wolff of the University of Greifswald highlighted that running speed influences ecological roles, affecting dispersal distances and niche occupation.

The Guardian

The authors acknowledge that untested huntsman species could surpass the brown huntsman’s record. Additionally, the study’s laboratory conditions may differ from natural environments, leaving open questions about how terrain and predator-prey interactions affect real-world sprint performance.

The Guardian

• “Spiders don’t move using just muscle – they use a combination of muscles to retract their limbs and hydraulic pressure to push them outwards.” — Dr Christofer Clemente, Evolutionary Biomechanist, University of the Sunshine Coast

The Guardian

• “That’s still really fast,” — Dr Christofer Clemente

The Guardian

• “Dr Jonas Wolff, of the University of Greifswald in Germany and one of the lead authors of the new research, said it was the broadest comparative study of running speed in spiders ever conducted.” — Dr Jonas Wolff, University of Greifswald

The Guardian

• “Running speed can determine how spiders interact with the environment, how far they disperse and “which ecological niche they occupy”.” — Dr Jonas Wolff

The Guardian

• “it was not the largest species that ran the fastest” — Dr Jonas Wolff

The Guardian