Green Huntsman (Micrommata virescens)
Most huntsman spiders are brown, flat and nocturnal. The green huntsman is the exception: a vivid grass-green spider that hunts by daylight in tall vegetation across Europe, invisible until it moves. The female is uniformly green, the smaller male wears a red racing stripe, and the whole animal is a lesson in how well camouflage works.
By Dr Richard J. Pearce (PhD)Published July 21, 2019Updated September 13, 2026✓ Reviewed by Dr. James Watuwa
In this guide
Physical description and identification
In most of Europe the green huntsman is unmistakable, because it is the only spider of the huntsman family in the region that is bright green, and few other spiders of its size are green at all. It has the family build — legs held out sideways, a low body, no web — but at a fraction of the size of the tropical members, and it hunts in daylight among grass and leaves rather than at night on walls.
Adults
- Size: females measure 12–16 mm in body length, males only 7–10 mm. Males have proportionally longer legs and a distinctly narrower abdomen, so the sexes are easy to separate at a glance.
- Color — female: uniformly bright grass green over the carapace, legs and abdomen, with a slightly darker green median stripe running down the abdomen and a paler green underside. Freshly moulted individuals are the most intense.
- Color — male: olive to yellow-green with a far bolder pattern. The abdomen carries a red to reddish-brown median stripe edged in yellow, and the legs are yellowish with reddish lines — a combination that makes a male look like a different species entirely.
- Eyes: eight eyes of roughly even size in two rows of four, each ringed with short white hairs that are visible under a hand lens.
- Colour chemistry: the green is not a surface pigment but a bilin — micromatabilin — carried in the body fluids and tissues, which is why it can fade quickly in dead or preserved specimens.
Eggs
The female does not carry her eggs. Instead she draws two or three grass blades or a leaf together with silk into a closed chamber, lays her eggs inside and stands guard on the outside. The eggs hatch after about four weeks, and she stays with the nursery until the spiderlings disperse.
Spiderlings
Juveniles look nothing like the adult female. The carapace is a dull yellowish brown, striped darkly down the centre and along each outer edge, and the rest of the body is straw-coloured. The green develops gradually over successive molts. Most individuals overwinter as part-grown juveniles low in the vegetation or in leaf litter and complete their final molts the following spring, so the life cycle usually spans two years.
Hunting instead of a web
Green huntsmen spin no snare. The spider stations itself along a grass stem or on the upper surface of a leaf with its front legs spread, relies entirely on camouflage, and grabs flies, small bugs, caterpillars, moths and grasshoppers that walk or land within reach. Silk is used only for the nursery chamber, a dragline and the moulting platform.
Where the green huntsman lives
Micrommata virescens is a Palaearctic species found across most of Europe, from southern Scandinavia and Denmark south to the Mediterranean and east through Russia into central Asia. In the United Kingdom it reaches its northern edge and is genuinely scarce, confined largely to heathland and damp grassland in southern England, where it is treated as a species of conservation interest.
Despite the older claim that it is a spider of dry woodland, the habitat that matters is sunlit low vegetation with some moisture: rough grassland, damp meadows, heathland, woodland rides, forest edges, scrub margins and the herb layer along hedgerows. It lives in the vegetation itself rather than on the ground, usually between knee and waist height, and it is most easily found by sweeping a net through long grass in May and June, when adults are mature.
Are green huntsman spiders venomous?
Yes, in the trivial sense that applies to nearly all spiders: it kills flies and small insects with venom. The venom has no significance for people. There is no toxin in it known to affect mammals, no recorded case of a serious reaction, and the fangs of a 14 mm spider are barely able to penetrate human skin in the first place.
The green huntsman is not related to any medically important group. Europe's genuinely troublesome spiders are the widow spiders of the Mediterranean and, to a much lesser degree, the sac spiders; both look and behave nothing like a green spider sitting on a grass blade.
Can green huntsman spiders bite?
In principle yes, in practice almost never. The species is shy, and its whole defensive strategy is to stay still and be invisible; when that fails it drops into the vegetation or runs. A bite would require holding the spider tightly in a closed hand, and even then many people would feel nothing more than a pinprick.
Where a bite does break the skin, the effect is a brief sting with slight redness and perhaps a small swelling that fades within a few hours. Wash the site, apply a cold pack if it is uncomfortable, and nothing further is needed. Medical attention is only warranted for the rare allergic reaction, which is a response to the proteins in any bite rather than to this venom in particular.
Handling tip: if you want a closer look, coax the spider onto a sheet of paper or into a clear pot rather than picking it up. A green huntsman is small and lightly built, and rough handling is far more dangerous to the spider than the spider is to you.
Ecological importance and behavior of the green huntsman
This is a diurnal ambush predator, active in warm sunshine when most spiders of similar size are hiding. It hunts among the exact plants where flies, leafhoppers, small caterpillars and young grasshoppers are feeding, and its green colouring works in both directions: prey does not see it coming, and birds hunting above the sward do not see it at all.
Natural predators: insectivorous birds are the main threat, together with spider-hunting and parasitoid wasps, ichneumons that attack the egg chamber, and larger spiders. In southern Europe lizards take them as well. Older accounts listing geckos among its predators are misplaced — geckos do not occur across most of this spider's European range.
Prey-predator dynamics: because it hunts in the herb layer rather than on the ground or in the air, the green huntsman occupies a narrow band of habitat that few other predators exploit as efficiently. In a healthy meadow it is a meaningful check on plant-feeding insects.
Seasonal behavior: juveniles overwinter in the vegetation and litter, complete their final molts in spring, and adults are on the wing-tip of the season in May, June and early July. Males wander to find females and court by tapping and by stroking the female's legs with their palps; after mating the female builds her leaf nursery and guards it until the young disperse.
Similar spiders and how to tell them apart
| Spider | How it differs from the green huntsman |
|---|---|
| Other Micrommata species | Close relatives such as M. ligurina replace it in parts of the Mediterranean. They are separated on genital structure and on subtle differences in the male's abdominal stripe, not on general colour. |
| Green crab spider | A crab spider, not a huntsman: the two front pairs of legs are much longer and heavier than the back pairs, and it sits in flowers rather than on grass blades. |
| Other crab spiders | Several are green or can change colour. All have the same front-heavy leg proportions and a squatter, more angular abdomen. |
| Green lynx spider | Also green and also web-free, but covered in long black spines on conspicuously spiky legs, with a hexagonal eye arrangement. An American species, not European. |
| Cane spider (Heteropoda venatoria) | The same family, but brown, nocturnal and five times the leg span. There is no realistic chance of confusion except on the word "huntsman". |
| Rain spider (Palystes superciliosus) | Another large grey-brown huntsman, from southern Africa, with black-and-yellow banded leg undersides. |
Quick facts
| Distribution | Palaearctic: most of Europe from southern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, east through Russia into central Asia. Scarce and local in southern England. |
|---|---|
| Habitat | Sunlit low vegetation — rough and damp grassland, heathland, woodland rides, forest edges and hedge margins. |
| Diet | Flies, leafhoppers, small bugs, caterpillars, moths and young grasshoppers. |
| Predators | Birds, spider-hunting and parasitoid wasps, ichneumons, larger spiders, and lizards in the south. |
| Lifespan | About two years; juveniles overwinter and adults mature in late spring. |
| Web | None. Silk is used for the leaf nursery, the dragline and the moulting platform. |
| IUCN status | Not evaluated globally; regionally scarce at the northern edge of its range. |
Did you know?
- The green pigment is a bilin called micromatabilin, chemically related to the breakdown products of haemoglobin and chlorophyll. It sits in the body fluids rather than in the cuticle, so museum specimens in alcohol lose their colour and turn yellowish.
- Carl Clerck described the species in 1757, in the same work that founded the modern naming of spiders.
- The male's red-and-yellow abdominal stripe is bright enough that early naturalists described the two sexes as separate species.
- It is one of very few spiders in northern Europe that can be reliably identified in the field on colour alone.
- Because it depends on unmown, sunlit vegetation, it disappears from intensively managed grassland — which is why it is regarded as an indicator of good meadow and heathland condition.
In summary, the green huntsman is a small, harmless, beautifully camouflaged daylight hunter of European grassland. Learn the sideways-held legs and the plain green female, and you have identified one of the continent's most distinctive spiders without ever needing to catch it.
Frequently asked questions about the green huntsman
What is the size difference between male and female green huntsman spiders?
Females are considerably larger, at 12 to 16 mm in body length, while males reach only 7 to 10 mm. Males also have proportionally longer legs and a much narrower abdomen, so a slim, long-legged individual in early summer is almost always a mature male.
How can you identify a male green huntsman spider?
Look for the stripe. Males are olive to yellow-green rather than grass green, and the abdomen carries a red or reddish-brown median stripe bordered with yellow. The legs are yellowish with reddish lines. The pattern is so different from the plain green female that the two were once thought to be separate species.
Why are green huntsman spiders green?
The colour comes from a bilin pigment, micromatabilin, carried in the body fluids and tissues rather than in the outer shell. It matches grass and leaves almost exactly, which hides the spider from the insects it ambushes and from the birds that hunt it. Preserved specimens lose the colour and fade to yellow.
Are green huntsman spiders venomous to humans?
They use venom on flies and small insects, but it holds no danger for people. No toxin affecting mammals is known from this species and no serious reaction has been recorded. The fangs of a 14 mm spider can barely pierce human skin, so even a determined bite rarely leaves a mark.
Do green huntsman spiders build webs?
No. They are ambush hunters that sit motionless on grass stems and leaves and seize prey that comes within reach, relying entirely on camouflage and speed. Silk is spun only for the leaf nursery that holds the eggs, for a safety dragline and for a platform to molt on.
What do juvenile green huntsman spiders look like?
Spiderlings and part-grown juveniles are not green. The carapace is a dull yellowish brown carrying dark stripes down its centre and along each outer edge, and the rest of the body is straw-coloured. The green appears gradually across successive molts, so a fully coloured female is an individual that has completed its final molt.
How long do green huntsman spider eggs take to hatch?
About four weeks. The female binds two or three grass blades or a leaf together with silk to form a closed chamber, lays her eggs inside and stands guard on the outside rather than carrying the sac. She remains with the nursery until the spiderlings leave it.
Where do green huntsman spiders live?
Across most of Europe, from southern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean and east through Russia into central Asia. They live in sunlit low vegetation — damp grassland, heathland, woodland rides and hedge margins — usually between knee and waist height. In Britain they are scarce and largely limited to southern England.
When is the best time to see a green huntsman spider?
Late spring and early summer. Juveniles overwinter in the vegetation and finish maturing in spring, so adults are present mainly in May, June and early July. Sweeping a net through long, sunlit grass at that time is the usual way of finding them.
Is the green huntsman spider rare?
It is common and widespread through much of continental Europe but genuinely scarce at the northern edge of its range, including Britain, where it is restricted to a small number of heathland and damp grassland sites. It disappears from intensively mown or grazed grassland, so it is used as an indicator of habitat quality.
References
- World Spider Catalog (2026). Micrommata virescens (Clerck, 1757). Natural History Museum Bern. wsc.nmbe.ch/spec-data/41437/taxon
