LIPHISTIUS

There are several species of Liphistius spiders in Malaysia, 5 of those are cave dwelling. 2 of those were officially named at the end of 1997. They are Liphistius kanthan and L. tempurung and were found in Gua Kanthan and Gua Tempurung in Perak.

The Liphistius are trapdoor spiders and can be described as living fossils, because unlike present day spiders, they have segmented abdomens. They possibly date back to the Carboniferous (360-286 mya) period, as some members of the Liphistiidae family were known to exist 290 mya. Today the genus Liphistius are only found in tropical south east Asia. The Liphistius has even been mentioned in the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records.

The Liphistius builds its nest on the cave wall or floor and camouflages it with mud and dirt. The front door of the nest is a trapdoor with 8 signal threads or trip wires radiating out. The spider waits with one leg on each thread, and if prey trips the wire, the spider rushes out, catches the victim and runs home slamming the door. If however the prey turns out to be an enemy, the spider can escape by means of a back door.

Liphistius batuensis, feet visible on each tripwire

same, but no feet visible

a trapdoor on the wall

These 6 photos taken in Dark Cave, at Batu Caves, Selangor

another nest on wall

on wall

on wall

I've never managed to take any good photos of the actual spider

on wall, Dark Cave

Liphistius batuensis

Liphistius kanthan

L kanthan with cricket

L tempurung in Gua Cicak, well camouflagued

All images are copyright © Liz Price

© Liz Price 2008 Page last updated May 2008