Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae, are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometimes are referred to as wood spiders, because of their preference for woody places. In southern Africa the genus Palystes are known as rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders. Commonly, they are confused with baboon spiders from the Mygalomorphae infraorder, which are not closely related.
A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp (Pompilidae) that preys on tarantulas. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis. They are one of the largest parasitoid wasps, using their sting to paralyze their prey before dragging it to a brood nest as living food; a single egg is laid on the prey, hatching to a larva which eats the still-living host. They are found on all continents other than Europe and Antarctica.
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
The wattle bagworm is a species of moth in the family Psychidae. In southern Africa it is a pest of the black wattle which is grown largely as a source of vegetable tannin. Kotochalia junodi is indigenous to Southern Africa, where it originally fed on indigenous relatives of the wattle.
The Cape genet, also known as the South African large-spotted genet, is a genet species endemic to South Africa. As it is common and not threatened, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Like other genets, it is nocturnal and arboreal, preferring to live in the riparian zones of forests, as long as these are not marshy areas.
The wheel spider or golden wheel spider, is a huntsman spider native to the Namib Desert of Southern Africa. This spider is distinct from Leucorchestris arenicola, a spider sharing the same common name and found in the same locale. The spider escapes parasitic pompilid wasps by flipping onto its side and cartwheeling down sand dunes at speeds of up to 44 turns per second.
Episyron quinquenotatus, the white-trimmed black wasp, is a North American species of pompilid spider hunting wasp.
Pompilus cinereus, the leaden spider wasp is the most widespread species of the Pompilus spider wasps, and throughout a large proportion of its wide distribution is the only species of Pompilus. It is the type species of the genus Pompilus and therefore of the family Pompilidae.
The common rain spider, formerly P. natalius, is a species of huntsman spider native to Southern Africa. It is the most common and widespread species in the genus Palystes. In South Africa its distribution ranges from KwaZulu-Natal province in the east, then westwards to the provinces of Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West in the north, and Eastern Cape and Western Cape in the south. It has a body length of 15–36 mm and a leg span of up to 110mm. The species was first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1875.
Homonotus sanguinolentus, the bloody spider-hunting wasp is a European species of Pompilid wasp.
Epipompilus insularis is a species of spider wasp which is endemic to New Zealand and it is the only species of the genus Epipompilus found in New Zealand.
Palystes is a genus of huntsman spiders, commonly called rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders, occurring in Africa, India, Australia, and the Pacific. The most common and widespread species is P. superciliosus, found in South Africa, home to 12 species in the genus. The name Palystes is derived from either the Latin palaestes or the Greek palaistes, meaning "wrestler". The genus was first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1875.
Socca pustulosa is a Orb-weaver spider species in the family Araneidae, and it was first described by a French scientist Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1841 from Tasmania, Australia, but later on when Walckenaer examined the specimen collected from New Zealand and renamed it as a different species- Epeira verrucosa. Until 1917, Dalmas reviewed the Australian pustulosa and New Zealand verrucosa and realized they were the same species. Although S. pustulosa has been accepted for some time in the genus of Eriophora, the evidence supporting its placement within this genus were not fully convincing. Therefore, an alternative view was proposed in 2022- a new genus established to accommodate pustulosa along with 11 other spider species from Australia; the diagnostic test based on haplotype analysis and systematic morphology study by arachnologists and found the anatomical features of male pedipalp terminal apophysis differs from other orb-web species.
Gasteracantha versicolor, known as the long-winged kite spider, is a species of diurnal spiny orb-weaver of the family Araneidae. It is found in the tropics and sub-tropics, where it occurs in forests. It has an extensive range, from central, east and southern Africa to Madagascar.
Cyphononyx optimus is a species of spider wasps in the family Pompilidae.
Anoplius viaticus, commonly known as the black-banded spider wasp, is a species of spider wasp. These wasps are known as spider wasps because the females capture spiders to provide their offspring with food. The paralysed spider is cached in a burrow, the wasp lays an egg on it, and when this hatches, the developing wasp larva consumes the spider. This species is found in sandy heathland across most of Europe.
Parabuthus granulatus, commonly known as the granulated thick-tailed scorpion, a large species of scorpion from the drier parts of southern Africa. It measures some 11.5 cm, and is dark yellow to brown in colour. It has a relatively small vesicle, but is one of the more venomous scorpion species of the region. Of all scorpion species, it causes most of the serious cases of envenomation in South Africa, and a few people die each year from their sting.
The rain spider wasp or red-femora spider wasp is an Afrotropical species of spider wasp specialising in capturing spiders of the genus Palystes, the rain spiders.
Hemipepsis tamisieri is a species of afrotropical pepsid spider wasp, one of the so-called tarantula hawks because its preferred prey are tarantulas of the family Theraphosidae.
Cantuaria borealis is a native New Zealand species of trapdoor spider.
