The Life Cycle of Heteropoda Venatoria (Linnaeus) (Araneae: Heteropodidae)

The giant crab spider, Heteropoda venatoria (L.), is known to occur throughout much of the tropics and subtropics of the world where it is valued as a predator of cockroaches (Guthrie and Tindall 1968, Hughes 1977, Edwards 1979). Its feeding habits, like those of most spiders, vary somewhat and it has also been known to eat scorpions and bats (Bhattacharya 1941), although it is questionable as to whether it normally attacks such prey. This spider is often found associated with human habitation, possibly due to the abundance of prey (Subrahamanyam 1944, Edwards 1979). Although biological notes on H. venatoria have been published by several workers (Lucas 1871, Minchin 1904, Bristowe 1924, Bonnet 1930, Ori 1974, 1977), the only life history work to date was published by Bonnet (1932) and Sekiguchi (1943, 1944a,b, 1945). Bonnet (1932) based his study on only 12 spiders (of which seven matured) and lacked data on the postembryonic stages. Sekiguchi (1943, 1944a,b, 1945) presented a more nearly complete study, but the papers are difficult to translate and they still lack some data, especially in regard to variation in the number of instars and carapace width. We have raised H. venatoria in the laboratory and present here our data on life cycle of this important beneficial arthropod.