The golden wheel spider is one of the few tough creatures that survive in the harsh environment of the Namib Desert in Southern Africa. It belongs to the family Sparassidae, meaning it is a huntsman spider. Sparassidae are called huntsman spiders because of their speed and mode of hunting.

The golden wheel spider is a nocturnal, free-ranging hunter. It can grow to up to 20 mm in size, averaging 18mm. Males and females of this species are the same size. Their bite is mildly venomous, but you won’t drop dead if you get bitten. It is not even known to be harmful to humans. These spiders don’t weave a web. Instead they dig a long narrow burrow extending 40 to 50 cm deep in the sand, bound together with silk. While the golden wheel spider is burying itself in its burrow they can shift up to 10 litres of sand. This is about 80.000 times its own body weight!

During the initial stages of making its burrow, the spider is vulnerable to attack. They usually fall prey to the parasitic pompilid wasps that sting and paralyze them before planting eggs in their bodies. If the golden wheel spider is unable to fight off the wasp, it escapes in a peculiar way that earned it its name. It flips onto its side and cartwheels down a sand dune at a speed of up to 1 meter per second or 44 turns per second.

Beautiful and strange creature.

