Green huntsman spider
Males and females look strikingly different: females are plain bright green all over, while males carry a bold red stripe bordered in yellow down a green-olive body.
| Where | Forest edges, meadows and woodland clearings |
|---|---|
| Size | Male 7 to 10 mm, female 12 to 16.6 mm body length |
| When | March to October |
The green huntsman spider is a large, bright green spider that hunts without a web, relying instead on close camouflage among leaves and grass stems. Females are a uniform bright green with a darker green median stripe on the abdomen, while males are green-olive with a striking red to red-brown stripe bordered in yellow. Females reach 12 to 16.6 mm in body length and males 7 to 10 mm.
It hunts by day among grass and the lower branches of trees at the edges of forests, in dry meadows and in damp woodland clearings, catching insects by sight and speed rather than trapping them in silk. Females guard their eggs, spun into a folded leaf nest, until the young hatch about four weeks later.
Traits
Habitat
Woodland
Colour
Green, Red
Active
Day
To people
Not known to bite people; it relies on camouflage and speed to hunt and tends to flee rather than confront when disturbed.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Micrommata ligurina is noticeably smaller, with females reaching only about 10 mm body length against the 12 to 16.6 mm of the green huntsman spider, and males show a fainter version of the red-brown abdominal stripe.
Questions
Is the Green huntsman spider dangerous to people?
Not known to bite people; it relies on camouflage and speed to hunt and tends to flee rather than confront when disturbed.
When can you see the Green huntsman spider?
The Green huntsman spider can be seen from March to October, by day.
Plate retouched from a museum specimen photo by Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, CC BY 4.0, GBIF Licence
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Spiders›Huntsman spiders›Micrommata
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.