Hunting Spiders
Huntsman Spider
Still courtesy to the great website : www.spiderzrule.com/commonspidersaus
Huntsman spiders are those long-legged spiders we often surprise crawling around our ceilings at night. They are part of the "modern" spider species which breathe through trachea as well as through "book-lungs". They also have chelicerae which close
side to side. The legs of a huntsman spider fan out sideways and the joints bend forwards. This means these spiders can run sideways as well as forwards - useful under bark and among stones.
Huntsman :
Scientific Name: Delena, Holconia, Neosparassus, Olios.
There are around a hundred different species of huntsman spider in Australia. The two back pairs of legs are shorter than the ones at the front and the legs fan out sideways enabling them to walk forwards and sideways often giving them a crab-like appearance. They come in a variety of colours and patterns but are mostly brown, black and grey. Some species are very large reaching over 160mm in leg span. Huntsman spiders are those long-legged spiders we often surprise crawling around our ceilings at night. They are part of the "modern" spider species which breathe through trachea as well as through "book-lungs". They also have chelicerae which close side to side. The legs of a huntsman spider fan out sideways and the joints bend forwards. This means these spiders can run sideways as well as forwards - useful under bark and among stones.
The huntsman eats a variety of insects, arthropods, small lizards and frogs. The prey is not captured in a web but actively stalked and run-down with stealth and speed. The fangs are large and powerful and hold the food item until it is immobilised by the spider's venom. Although bites can be painful to humans and occasionally cause mild nausea and headaches, the symptoms are usually only localized pain and swelling.
Huntsman spiders originally lived in woodlands and forests but today they take up residence on the walls of houses, hunting insects at night. If threatened, a huntsman spider will "play dead", to avoid danger. Groups of huntsman may be found huddled together in a family group, under flaking bark or rocks.
Huntsman spiders moult and often their old skin may be mistaken for the original spider when seen clinging to bark or in the house.
Male and female huntsman have a lengthy courtship, which involves mutual caresses. The male is rarely attacked, unlike some other species. A female huntsman places her egg sac under bark or a rock, then stands guard over it. She tears the egg sac open to help the spiderlings emerge and stays with them for several weeks.
Flower Spider - Thomisus spectabilis.
Another name for the Flower Spider is the Crab Spider because it has white or yellow stout legs which are held like a crab. The full size of the Flower Spider is between four and ten millimetres. Flower Spiders are often white or yellow in colour, some have green, brown or rosy tints on the abdomen. The females are small and their legs are less than 7mm long. The males are even smaller, but their legs are longer. They
normally have two large front eyes and have
very well developed eyesight.
Flower or Crab Spiders:
by Stacey R. and Tui
Introduction: The Flower Spider's Latin name is Thomisus spectabilis. Another name for the Flower Spider is the Crab Spider because it has white or yellow stout legs which are held like a crab. The full size of the Flower Spider is between four and ten millimetres. Flower Spiders are often white or yellow in colour, some have green, brown or rosy tints on the abdomen. The females are small and their legs are less than 7mm long. The males are even smaller, but their legs are longer. They normally have two large front eyes and have very well developed eyesight.
Habitat: Each Flower Spiders takes a flower as its hunting territory and waits on the petals, anchored by its hind legs and pedipalps extended. An insect visiting the flower for pollen or nectar is seized and bitten, then sucked dry. They are mostly common in Summer and are Australia wide. They also live in the garden on native flowers, on grass heads and among seed pods and in rushes. They are common on native flowers such as Grevillea. Flower spiders are diurnal in their habits which means they are active in the day time.
Prey: Flower Spiders feed eat insects such as butterflies and nectar feeding insects. They even eat bees as you can see from the picture below. The Flower Spider catches insects with its front legs which close together like a pair of tongs. It also jumps at the insect which lands on the flower, then eats it.
Breeding: When the female is ready to lay her eggs, she weaves a tiny silk dish, then she lays her eggs in the tiny dish. Then she makes a silk lid to fit the dish and that is her egg sac. The eggs are like tiny green jewels that stay in the egg sac up to two weeks. When the spiderlings hatch, they are left to fend for themselves.
Venom: Flower Spiders are quite quick to bite but only cause mild local pain to humans.
One species of Crab Spider is the Goldenrod Spider It is best known for its ability to change its colour from white to yellow in order to camouflage among flowers. The female is the one most often seen. She is either yellow or white, depending on where she is, with red streaks on her abdomen. The male is dark reddish-brown, with a whitish abdomen with dark red streaks. The male is smaller (about 1/8 inch) than the female (up to 3/8 inch). Goldenrod Spiders are found wherever there are yellow and white flowers, especially goldenrod and daisies. This is usually in a field or garden.
Crab Spiders
Flower Crab Spider Eating a Fly
Giant Spider! World's Biggest Spider Giant Huntsman Spider
Huntsman Spider Care
Jumping Spider - Opisthoncus
The Jumping Spider is a diurnal animal with excellent eyesight, that pursues its prey and leaps upon it. It has an all-round view of its surroundings because of its large, central, front eyes. It is about the size of a 20c piece when fully grown, with pin size legs. There are many different species but all jump and turn their heads separately from their bodies to look at objects. They live in houses and gardens and are most common in Summer, Australia wide. It is a roving spider but hangs from web lines at night. It rarely bites people and causes only mild local pain.
Australian Jumping Spiders
Trapdoor Spider
Trapdoor spiders can be distinguished from the more dangerous Funnel web spider by its brown or mottled markings. When in danger, a Trapdoor spider will freeze or flee whereas a Funnel web will rear back aggressively. A Trapdoor spider has smaller spinnerets than a funnel web. Trapdoor spiders are not particularly harmful to man however, like Tarantulas, the tiny hairs on the legs of some species leave tiny red marks where the "toothed" hairs on the spiders' feet have clung to the skin.
Trapdoor Spiders :
The name Trapdoor spider covers several families and many different species. Trapdoor spiders can be distinguished from the more dangerous Funnel web spider by its brown or mottled markings. When in danger, a Trapdoor spider will freeze or flee whereas a Funnel web will rear back aggressively.
One of the most common is the Brush Footed Trapdoor spider which has tufts of "tooth-ended" hairs on their feet which allow them to climb smooth, vertical shafts. Brush Footed Trapdoor spiders are also known as Bird Eating spiders. One was seen to eat a baby domestic chicken.
Trapdoor spiders construct burrows lined by their silk and closed by a hinged door of silk, moss, and soil. There they lie in wait for passing prey, usually an insect; when the prey touches silken threads radiating out on the ground near the door, the spiders quickly open the door and seize it. Closely related to Tarantulas, Trapdoor Spiders make up the family Ctenizidae. They are generally small, are harmless to humans, and are found in many warm climates. They also use their burrows for protection and as nest sites, the female spinning her egg sac for about 300 eggs in the burrow.
Young Trapdoor spiders stay in the burrow with their mother for some time. One group digs burrows in ground which is liable to flood. A turret built around the entrance keeps out water and if the burrow is flooded, the spider clims to a chamber built to the side to try and survive until the water recedes. Another group makes whistling sounds by rubbing flattened pegs on the pedipalp across spines at the base of the chelicerae. This whistling probably attracts mates.
Mouse spiders are also a type of Trapdoor spider with huge chelicerae and may measure up to 35mm in body length. The aggressive female Mouse spider has large fangs and a high venom output and may harm humans.
Australian Trapdoor Spider
Eastern Mouse Spider - Missulena Occatoria
MOUSE SPIDERS
The Mouse Spider is a member of the Trapdoor family. Trapdoor spiders include the Funnel-web, Mouse, Whistling, and Curtain-web spiders; they are distinguished by the stocky body, long leg-like palps, and two knee-like lobes to which the fangs join (chelicerae) in front. Most live in burrows with or without trapdoors in the ground, but some live in trees. Trapdoor spiders have powerful chelicerae and four pale patches (the book-lungs) under the abdomen. The correct identification of Trapdoor spiders is often quite complicated.
There are two types of Mouse Spider in Australia- the Red Headed Mouse Spider and the Eastern Mouse Spider. The Latin name is Missulena Occatoria. At full size, the Mouse Spider are about the size of a 50c piece or 1 to 3 centimetres. They have short stocky legs with tiny eyes spread across the head. The male Red Headed Mouse spider (pictured below) has a bright red head and a blue abdomen. The Mouse Spider lives all over Australia but not in Tasmania. It lives in arid conditions as well as rainforests and bushlands. The home of the Mouse Spider is a burrow, oval shaped, of moderate depth and straight down. Female spiders spends all their lives in the burrow. Male spiders wander in Spring to Autumn. The burrow may be plastered with mud and digestive juices then lined with silk. They also live in other parts of the world like the USA.
The females tend to remain in or near their burrows throughout their life, and are sluggish spiders that are rarely aggressive. However M. occatoria females have been found to produce copious amounts of highly toxic venom, which is potentially as dangerous as that of the Sydney Funnel-web Spider. A male M. bradleyi caused a serious envenomation in a child in the Brisbane region. Males wander during early winter, especially after rain. They will assume a threatening posture if disturbed. A bite should be treated the same as a funnel web bite and immediate first aid should be applied. Apply a pressure bandage over the bitten area as high up the limb as possible. Immobilise the victim. If possible, carefully collect spider for positive identification. Do not wash venom off the skin, as retained venom will assist identification.
Trapdoor spider Australia
Red Headed Mouse Spider - Missulena Occatoria
This is the Red Headed Mouse Spider. At full size, the Mouse Spider are about the size of a 50c piece or 1 to 3 centimetres. They have short stocky legs with tiny eyes spread across the head. They have been known to cause severe illness, especially to young children - similar to Red-Back Spider. Although normally not aggressive, the male mouse spider will bite if provoked, and should be considered dangerous to humans. It has large hard fangs which can cause a deep painful bite.
Black House Spider
Adults are about 15 mm in body length and of a dark brown to black velvet textured appearance. The carapace and legs are dark brown to black, and the abdomen is charcoal grey with a dorsal pattern of white markings. It spins a lacy, messy web and prefers dry habitats in secluded locations. It is commonly found in window framing, under eaves, gutters, in brickwork, sheds, toilets and among rocks and bark. Electric lights attract their prey - moths, flies, mosquitoes and other insects. Its bite is poisonous but not lethal. Certain people bitten experience severe pain around the bite site, heavy sweating, muscular pains, vomiting, headaches and giddiness. First aid and medical attention (ambulance) should be sought as soon as possible.
Black House Spider
by James
INTRODUCTION: The Black House (or window) spider is found in most of Australia including Tasmania and has been introduced into New Zealand. It likes dry temperature and is more common inland. The Scientific name for the Black House spider is Badumna Insignis. The description of the Female is up to 18mm long and the Male is only 9mm. This spider has a strong build and is coal - black or dark brown. They also often have a row of faint white V's on their back. The head -(Thorax) is shiny black and the eyes are in two rows of four. The Black House spider comes from the family Pesidae, it is a species of lace web-making spider.
HABITAT: The Black House Spider can be found in rock crevices on loose tree bark, sheds, cracks in brick walls and in window corners. They normally take up permanent residence in sheltered exterior corners of almost any wooden or brick structure. A favourite site is the corner of a window, the web radiating outwards. They can also found in cracks in fibro, rusting corrugated iron, ventilators and other places commonly visited by insects. In the natural bush land. The Black House Spider often builds its snare in unhealthy trees. The web may appear tunnel like with one or more entrances. They are "typical" colourless, lacy, tangled, shawl-like structures. The web often has two or three funnel like entrances leading to a silky retreat where the spider rests in the daytime. The Black House Spider use the rakes on its hind legs to pull the silk from its spinning plate and spinnerets, When the web is first made it has a bluish tingle. The web consists of a series of radiating threads with zigzag threads crossing between them like the rungs of a ladder and are usually heavily embroidered. The Black House Spider can be found in dry areas throughout Australia and Tasmania.
PREY: Black House Spider a wide variety of insects, and other spiders. If can be seen resting in a corner of it's snare or in the retreat tunnel, with forelegs stretched out along the web. When the insect becomes tangled in the web and struggles the spider receives the vibrations through sensory hairs set in sockets on its forelegs. The spider grasps the threads of the snare with its claws and tugs sharply at rapid intervals in a reflex action produced by the female muscles. This tugging action entangles struggling insect, which is swathed in silk, bitten, dragged into the funnel and consumed in safety. It may eat the insect then or wrap it up with its silk thread for later.
BREEDING: A female Black House Spider wraps her eggs in a flat white silk egg sac. She hides the sac in her web or near a nearby crevice. The mother guards the sac until the spiderlings hatch. Each spiderling produces milk thread's, which are caught by the wind and carry the young spiders away.
VENOM: The venom of the Black House Spider is poisonous but not lethal, it can cause much harm to humans. Bites are rare and usually occur when people attempt to move the web. The Black House Spider is not usually aggressive and they will bite only if they are annoyed. The bite may cause vomiting, nausea, heavy sweating, breathing problems, muscular pain, however their symptoms are only temporary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Australian Spiders in colour, Ramon Mascord, Chatswood NSW, 2067, 1970
2. The Puffin Book of spiders, Helen Hunt, Australia, 1982
3. Australian Animals spiders, Greg Pyers, Victoria, 1999
4. Spider watch, Bert Brunet, Australia, 1996
5. Photo: Qld Museum
Wolf Spiders - Lyosidae, Genus Lycosa
still courtesy to the great website : www.spiderzrule.com/wolf
The Wolf Spider got its name because it stalks its prey like a wild dog. It is an open range hunting spider. The female grows to 35mm and the male to 20mm. They are a small to medium size spider. They can be grey or brown with marking on their back which can be black, orange, grey or brown. The Wolf Spider has three rows of eyes, two at the back, two in the centre and four in the front. The Wolf Spider is not an aggressive spider. If the spider is handled, it can cause a painful bite which may cause infection and skin lesions to some people. Females carry their babies on their backs
The surest way to recognize a wolf spider is by the general stout body shape, the eye arrangement and by the fact that they are usually not in a web. Their general body shape is somewhat stout with the cephalothorax and abdomen of about equal sizes. The legs also are stout, fairly even in length and strong enough to support the spiders weight. The legs can be compared to those of many web building spiders whose legs are much longer and thinner. In wolf spiders, the anterior eyes are made up of 4 small eyes in a row, and the posterior eyes are 4 large eyes arranged in two rows. From a front view, you can see a row of 4 small anterior eyes with two larger eyes above them and 2 eyes further back on the head. The large eyes are significant in their behaviour: wolf spiders do have good eyesight (especially for spiders) and use vision fairly extensively for prey capture, courtship and aggressive interactions. The posterior eyes give the spiders vision above them and behind them and are significant in avoiding predation or capture.
Unlike the Sydney Funnel-web, the Red-back is not aggressive and if molested will usually fall to the ground, curl up and feign death. If disturbed while guarding her eggs or cornered, she will bite the intruder with her small but effective fangs. Most bites occur when the spider is trapped against the skin e.g. when clothes are put on that contain a spider, or picked up in rubbish. Most bites occur on the hands or feet than the rest of the body.
Wolf spider
Black House Spider feeding
Wolf Spiders
DANGEROUS - BELOW SPECIES MAY BITE AND COULD BE LIFE THREATENING
The spiders listed below have been known to cause death or give bites that are classed as dangerous or life threatening. However, there are now antivenins available for both the Redback and Funnel Web spider, which are the only 2 spiders in Australia to have caused deaths.
Web Spinning Spiders - Dangerous:
Redback Spider - Lactrodectus hasselti
The Red-back is found in all parts
of Australia except in the hottest deserts and on the coldest mountains. It is the only dangerous spider with an Australia-wide distribution. Red-backs are very common in Summer. The female Red-back has a spherical satin-black abdomen with an orange-red stripe. The abdomen is usually about 1 cm in diameter. Its bite can cause serious illness and deaths used to occur before an antivenom became available in 1956.
Most Venomous Spider
Redback Spiders
RED-BACK SPIDER (Lactrodectus hasselti)
Hundreds of people are bitten by Red-back Spiders every year, however very few are seriously injured.
(Check out a news article at the end of this page.)
Its close relative, theBlack Widow Spider, is probably the most common cause of serious spider bites overseas. An almost identical spider, the Katipo, is the only venomous spider in New Zealand. In 1987, the Brown Widow Spider (Achaearanea) (below right) was found in Brisbane. This is not considered highly dangerous to humans but nonetheless it could make young children quite ill. Its venom would be neutralized by Red-back antivenom.
The Red-back is found in all parts of Australia except in the hottest deserts and on the coldest mountains, so be especially cautious if you find yourself having to reach in places where you have limited visibility.
. It is the only dangerous spider with an Australia-wide distribution. Red-backs are very common in Summer. The female Red-back has a spherical satin-black abdomen with an orange-red stripe. The abdomen is usually about 1 cm in diameter. Eight long delicate legs arise from the tiny front segment of the body.
The male is only about one-third the size of the female and is considered harmless to humans because his fangs are so small. The male's markings are not as bright as the female as seen in this picture. It is usually easy to identify a female Red-back although her stripe may be orange, pink or even light grey.
After mating, the female eats the male. The female spins up to 8 round balls of web for her eggs. Some of these may contain as many as 300 eggs. If the weather is warm, the spiderlings hatch after about 2 weeks and will moult several times as they grow before they reach full size.
Although this spider injects only a tiny amount of venom, it can cause serious illness and deaths used to occur before an antivenom became available in 1956. The action of the venom is unique as it can attack all the nerves of the body and in serious cases cause a paralysis which may lead to death. At first the bite is only as painful as a minor insect sting, but after a few minutes it becomes intense and spreads to other parts of the body. A special feature seen only with Red-back bites is that the bitten limb may sweat profusely while the rest of the skin remains dry. Fortunately the serious affects of the venom take several hours or even days to develop and there is plenty of time for treatment with antivenom. Remember that most bites can be avoided if you keep your eyes open for that tell-tale red stripe.
The Brown Widow is of the same group as the Red-back and the Black Widow but its toxin is about one-tenth the strength of the Red-back toxin and does not cause the same severe reaction. It can be a garden pest of plague proportions.
Brown Widow - Lactrodectus geometricus
The Brown Widow is of the same group as the Red-back and the Black Widow but its toxin is about one-tenth the strength of the Red-back toxin and does not cause the same severe reaction. It can be a garden pest of plague proportions.
Latrodectus geometricus feeding (Brown Widow)
Other Spiders as a pet .. Introduction and keeping
Other spiders Species : Common Australian Spiders 1 ... 2 .... 3
Common United States Spiders and Americas 1 ... 2 .... 3
Other Spiders as a pet .. Introduction and keeping
Other spiders Species : Common Australian Spiders 1 ... 2 .... 3
Common United States Spiders and Americas 1 ... 2 .... 3