Little Miss Muffet

I know this is going to freak a lot of people out. And I apologise. But I just couldn't resist.

This is an Australian Huntsman spider, which belongs to the Family Sparassidae. There are 94 named species, and this is possibly isopeda montana, but I'm not absolutely sure.

They can frighten the very bejesus out of you, on account of they are big. This one is about 7cm leg tip to leg tip, and body length of about 1.5 cms, and is about medium size. I've seen them much bigger.

I don't normally get this close to them, in fact I normally scoop them up in a dustpan and dump them outside. This one was incredibly patient and allowed me to light him up with a torch and get my camera just a few centimeters away from his nose.

They are not especially dangerous, and will scuttle away, but they can still bite, and it can be quite painful (so I am told).