How Fast Is A Spider?

     The other day my wife was working in her home office in the basement which has a tiled floor. As I was talking to her she noticed a large spider casually strolling across the floor and told me to step on it. 

     Not wanting a squashed spider on the sole of my shoe, I grabbed a Kleenex and went to grab it and in a flash it sped away and, eluding two attempted grabs, it disappeared under a closet door. 

     It turns out spiders are fast! The fastest spider in the world is the desert-dwelling Moroccan spider which can reach speeds of up to 5.7 feet per second, or 3.8 mph. The average walking speed for humans is 2.5 to miles per hour. 

     It used to be that giant house spiders were officially be recognized as the fastest spider in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. They have speeds clocked at 1.73 ft per second (1.18 miles per hour). The new record holders were solifugids, but they are not true spiders. Solifugids resemble spiders, but they are closely related to scorpions. 

     Giant house spiders are found in Europe, Central Asia and Northern Africa and although they were accidentally introduced in the Pacific Northwest of North America circa 1900 they are not common. 

     The most common house spiders in the U.S with their description and photo can be found HERE. 

     The ten most dangerous spiders in North America are described HERE. There are three venomous spiders in the United States: the brown recluse, the black widow, and the hobo.