David B. Hirst is an

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of sp ...

previously based at the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultu ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He left the Museum on 22 February 2011. He has described more than 40 species and

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

in the huntsman spider family,

Sparassidae Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae (formerly Heteropodidae), are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometim ...

, and was regularly called on by New Zealand authorities to identify huntsman spiders that entered their country. Hirst's work includes revision of many Sparassid genera including Delena,

Holconia ''Holconia'' is a genus of Southern Pacific huntsman spiders that was first described by Tamerlan Dahls Thorell in 1877. It was branched from ''Isopeda'' in 1990. List of species , it contains nine species that are found widespread in We ...

Isopeda ''Isopeda'' is a genus of huntsman spiders that was first described by Ludwig Carl Christian Koch in 1875. Species it contains nineteen species and one subspecies, found in Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines, and on New Caledonia: *'' ...

, Isopedella,

Keilira ''Keilira'' is a genus of Australian huntsman spiders that was first described by D. B. Hirst in 1989. it contains two species, found in South Australia and Victoria: '' K. sokoli'' and '' K. sparsomaculata''. See also * List of Sparassidae sp ...

Pediana ''Pediana'' is a genus of Sparassidae, huntsman spiders that was first described by Eugène Simon, Eugène Louis Simon in 1880. Species it contains nine species, found in Australia and on Java: *''Pediana horni'' (Henry Roughton Hogg, Hogg, 1896 ...

Rhacocnemis ''Rhacocnemis'' is a monotypic genus of Seychelloise huntsman spiders containing the single species, ''Rhacocnemis guttatus''. It was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1897, and is endemic to the Seychelles. See also * List of Sparassid ...

, Thomasettia and Typostola. Hirst has been a consultant in cases where spiders were said to have been found in bottles of wine from South Australia. The finders of the spiders were from the United Kingdom. In some cases he was able to rule out the bottles as the source of the spider because the specimens presented were not found in Australia. He however found a ''

Clubiona ''Clubiona'' is a genus of sac spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804. Species the genus contains 493 species and seven subspecies. These species and subspecies are found in Oceania, Africa, North America, the Carib ...

'' sac spider more likely to have been in the bottle when filled because he was able to find the species present in wine growing areas.

References

Australian arachnologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-scientist-stub