A few weeks ago I met with some friends to explore a natural area not far from home. And Mother Nature decided to showcase us new species even before we got there! As my friend arrived and open the car door, she jumped back and realised she had brought passengers!
Meet Zoropsis spinimana, called in portuguese aranha dos troncos grande. It's one of the largest spider species in Portugal!
Portuguese spiders are tiny in comparison with some of the most known species - although we do hava a tarantula species way bigger than this one. This one in the photo should be around 5cm in diameter; for what I've checked, the body reaches max. 2 cm, and females are bigger than males.
So I can understand the jump my friend gave, since most our spiders are very tiny! I was able to pick her up with a small branch and place her in a more suitable location (much to my friend's relief!).
See how they blend with the tree colours? It could easily go unnoticed!
These spiders don't use webs, and instead they hunt actively, a similar behavior to the wolf spiders. So it's common to find them in warmer places such as homes (and cars??) especially in the wintertime.
In fact, the spider is also called false wolf spider, and an ever cooler name, nosferatu spider, given the marks it has on its body - pretty cool name, right?
Fortunately, her behaviour was not nosferatuish, as she kept pretty calm being transported to the tree and there she stood, staring at us humans.
I can't say I'm a spider fan, but got used to admire them, being so usefull to the environment; I was glad I was able to admire this one up close!