Second Huntsman spider sighting in Napier in March

A second sighting of a Huntsman spider in Napier’s Pandora area could be the last - unless the species can survive a Hawke’s Bay winter.

Cor Vink, arachnid expert and Associate Professor of Entomology at Lincoln University, said he wasn’t sure if the spiders could endure the region’s colder months.

The spider appeared to be the Isopeda villosa - a species of Huntsman native to New South Wales and now established in Auckland.

Earlier this month, Vink said two sightings in Hawke’s Bay nine months apart suggested the spider was establishing itself in the area.

The latest discovery was made by Dene Kirdy, who works in shipping container logistics, while on his lunch break walk at the entrance of the Pandora estuary on Wednesday, March 26.

A second Huntsman spider has been spotted in Napier's Pandora area at the entrance of the estuary.

Kirdy said he bent down to tie his shoelace and spotted what he believed to be a juvenile Huntsman in the grass. He estimated it to be 5cm to 7cm long.

“It was roughly 150mm away from my shoe.”

Kirby said he was not afraid of spiders, as he had seen them before around his workplace, so the encounter didn’t leave him spooked.

“We do get a lot of containers from Auckland, so that would kind of make sense.”

He described the spider as tame and knew they were harmless to humans.

“I know that they will kill all the nasty creepy-crawlies that we don’t want here.”

He was happy to see numbers on the rise.

“I think having them here is a great thing, and I regard them as the puppy dogs of the spider world.”

Another Huntsman spider was spotted earlier in the month in the backyard of a property at Pandora.

It was reported to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on Thursday, March 6.

Vink said the next challenges for the spider would be to survive Napier’s colder seasons, and whether it could find enough prey.

“It’ll be interesting to see if the population is still around after winter.”

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.