Yoga is meant to be a relaxing and meditative experience, but that probably wasn't the case for Christchurch Lululemon staff who found what's thought to be a live hitchhiking huntsman spider.
The unusual customer was found earlier this week near recently imported boxes of clothing from Australia. Having checked all the 13 boxes, they weren't able to find any others.
The spider was reported by an entomologist and spider expert from Canterbury Museum who believed it was a spider species known as the grey huntsman.
But a formal identification hasn't taken place yet because it hasn't arrived at the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI) lab.
Huntsman spiders aren't an uncommon find in New Zealand.
An MPI spokesperson says in the past 12 months they've received 47 reports of suspected huntsman spiders, only three of which were confirmed.
One of them was found at a transitional site in Christchurch where imported goods are inspected by biosecurity staff.
And while the huntsman is typically associated with Australia, New Zealand does have established populations including the harmless Avondale spider which was first found in the 1920s.
The grey huntsman is normally found in eastern Australia and prefer narrow, flat spaces.
MPI says the find isn't a biosecurity concern and aren't listed as "unwanted organisms" in the Biosecurity Act.
Newshub.
