Hello and welcome to another edition of ‘Evolution, That Seems Like Overkill’.

Today, I wanted to show you all one of the coolest bugs on the planet!

Introducing… The Slingshot Spider.

These phenomenal arachnids are only a millimetre or two in size, but are able to accelerate 100 times faster than a cheetah.

They hunt prey by tensioning themselves back in their web, and then suddenly releasing themselves like a slingshot.

The incredible design of these webs allows the spider to travel at around 4 metres per second, subjecting it to forces of 130 g – that’s about 10 times what a human can withstand before passing out.

Slingshot Spiders are one of the few web-building spiders that actively hunt their prey, and they’re also, as far as we know, the fastest moving arachnid on the planet!

There appears to be some kind of phenomenon that correlates with good hunting conditions for the Slingshot Spider – perhaps stillness of the air. On one night-walk at Kawsay Biological Station I saw a dozen or so in a single evening, and the following night I didn’t see any.

These incredible spiders can be found right across the world, and if you happen to come across one, you can see it in action by snapping your fingers, or lightly blowing on the web.

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Slingshot Spider (Theridiosomatidae), Kawsay Biological Station, Peru