tarantula speeds

[Daniel]

I was watching my S. crassipes Australian tarantula the other night stalking a cricket some 5 cm away from it. It sat motionless for a long time and then seemed to teleport to just outside its burrow with the cricket. The conduction of nerve impulses in the brain is 50 - 60 m / s, so if you can't see a spider move then I presume that its speed must be in this kind of ball-park!

This means that when striking, a tarantula can move at 216 km per hour! This would be roughly equivalent to a human sprinting at 1580 km / hour!

I suppose proper measurements of tarantula speeds must have been made, but if they are in this ball park,it is truly incredible. No wonder spiders have survived for so many millions of years!

[Simon Batten]

maybe you blinked slowly

[Daniel]

yes - the stuff about nerve conduction may be rubbish.
I'd be fascinated to know the actual speeds which this species, and other teleporting spiders can reach though.

[Nicola Dolby]

tarantula speeds.

I don't know anything about nerves, but I've seen my P. metallica move a couple of times so fast that I barely saw it go. I thought the thing had jumped at first, and I didn't blink. (plus tarantulas can't jump round corners!)

[Daniel]

Yeah. I can't find anything on the web about the speeds of tarantulas when striking prey, or escaping predators/owners, although there are a few things about speeds in other circumstances. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place.

I guess measuring it would just need a video with time lapse. I bet it's damn fast.

[BarryL]

could not find anything on speed but came across this paper if anyone interested.

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/205/18/2909.pdf

[Daniel]

That's interesting.
Perhaps someone with a large collection of typically fast spiders and the right equipment should do a survey of the speeds of different species and write a paper!
For example, I know that P. ornata are frequently described as 'teleporting'. I'd certainly be interested to know how fast they are actually going in differing circumstances, e.g striking prey, escaping predators/owners etc.

[Larry Shone]

I know my psalmo can move like a bullet-it shot up my arm like a rocket when I first got it,but they soon run out of steam ,usually when they reach your shoulder. Theyre like cheetahs, can sprint very fast but not for long.

[Michael Seils]

I'm sure its probably nothing compared to other species but I'm amazed by how fast my G.rosea moves. Today it made a great (and almost fatal) escape using it. I was clearing some cricket remains out and didn't notice the spider coming towards the tweezers. I must have brushed a leg and then I seen it, I tried to pull the tweezers away but it already did what I thought it might...ran up the tweezers and then jumped off my hand down the back of my unit. Its about a three foot drop, so lucky for the poor guy my room is a mess, and a bunch of tangled wires and cables cusioned the blow. Its still pretty jumpy and it happened early this morning, poor thing must be terrified. Taught me to keep a closer eye on it though, they can be very fast indeed.

[Nicola Dolby]

tarantula speed

I think we underestimate the speed of a lot of our tarantulas. Because they're normally slow and deliberate in their movements that sticks in out brains, then they react to food and we are shocked. I'm just as guilty as the speed my Avic can cross her 18 inch tank, grab food and then go back to her web, its like she is flying. I think all Poecilotherias are very very fast. As I've said I've seen my P. metallica 'teleporting' and others have said the same about P. ornata, also my P. subfusca can move just as fast. Then again, if you think about how fast their food can move they need to, don't they?