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Spider Information

SPIDER  BODY  PARTS

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Redback Spider

Latrodectus hasselti

Distribution:
Found all over Australia; common in disturbed and urban areas.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
Abdomen with red or orange stripe above, 'hourglass' shaped
red/orange spot below. Females have a body about the size of a pea and slender legs. The tiny males, only 2-3 mm long, are not dangerous.  Vertical, sticky catching threads run to the ground  from the tangled retreat web above. Webs are built in dry, sheltered sites, eg., among rocks, in logs, culverts , sheds, privies, etc.

BITE:
Redback bites occur frequently, especially in the warmer months. Bites can cause serious illness and some have caused deaths.
An antivenom is available - no deaths have occurred since its introduction.

FIRST AID:
Apply cold pack to relieve pain.
Do not apply a pressure bandage.
Collect the spider for identification.
Seek medical attention. Back

White-Tailed Spider

Lampona Cylindrata

Distribution:
Lampona group spiders are found all over Australia; Lampona cylindrata is particularly common in disturbed and urban areas.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
Cylindrical spiders, body 1-1.5 cm. long, females more robust than males.   Body colour dull, dark grey with a distinct white spot on the end of the abdomen, (sometimes with paired spots toward front), legs shiny, brownish.    Night-active, crevice dwelling hunters found under bark, rocks, in leaf litter and often in houses.   They attack and eat other spiders including Black House Spiders.

BITE:
Symptoms usually confined to local burning   pain   followed   by
development of an itchy lump.   Less commonly  bites  have  caused
localised blistering at the bitten area.
There is little conclusive evidence that bites by these spiders are primary causes of extensive skin ulceration.    A sensible precaution is to remove these spiders when found around the home.

FIRST AID:
Cold pack may relieve local pain.
Seek medical attention if symptoms persist. Back

Black-house Spider

Badumna Insignis                  Distinctive Web

Distribution:
Widely distributed in southern and eastern Australia.  Common in urban  areas. Badumna group spiders are found all over Australia.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
Dark, robust spiders, 1-1.5 cm. body length.
Their webs form untidy, lacy silk sheets with funnel-like entrance(s).
They are found on tree trunks, rock walls and buildings (in window frames, wall crevices, etc.).   Badumna longinquus is a slightly smaller species with a greyish carapace and grey-brown banded legs. It often builds its webs on foliage.

BITE:
Timid spiders. Bites are infrequent but some may be quite painful and have other transient symptoms like nausea.

FIRST AID:
Cold pack may relieve local pain.
Seek medical attention if symptoms persist. Back

Funnel - Web Spiders
                       

Sydney Funnel Web     Funnel Web burrow    Blue MountainFunnel Web (Atrax robustus)       entrance with trip lines  (Hydronyche robustus)

Distribution:
Eastern Australia, including Tasmania, in coastal and highland forest regions - as far west as the Gulf Ranges area of South Australia.
There are about 40 species.    Sydney  Funnel-web  Spiders (Atrax robustus) occur from Newcastle to Nowra and west to Lithgow.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
Large  spiders  (1.5 - 4.5  cm  body length), carapace glossy.
Males often have a ventral spur or swelling (arrowed) midway along the second leg, pointed in Atrax, blunt or absent in Hadronyche.   Spinnerets (silk spinning organs) usually obvious at end of abdomen, last segment longer than wide.   Burrows in sheltered habitats - under rocks, in rotting logs, tree holes, etc.,  in  bush and garden.  Irregular silk trip lines radiate out from burrow entrance.   Males leave their burrows and wander in search of females during summer / autumn.
Bites are most prevalent in this period.

BITES:
Dangerous. Can cause serious illness or death.
Male venom sometimes more toxic than female.
Antivenom is available - no deaths have occurred since its introduction.

FIRST AID:
Bites are usually on a limb.  Apply a pressure bandage immediately and immobilise the bitten limb by splinting.  Restrict movement of victim. Capture the spider for identification.
Seek medical attention urgently. Back

Trapdoor Spiders

Male & Female Brown Trapdoor Spiders
Misgolas rapax

        Typical Trapdoor Entrance          SigillateTrapdoor Spider

Distribution:
Misgolas group spiders are found in eastern Australia especially in coastal and highland regions of New South Wales and Victoria.   Misgolas rapax is a common Brown Trapdoor Spider around Sydney.  Aganippe group spiders are found across southern Australia west of the Great Dividing
Range and include the Adelaide Trapdoor Spider, Aganippe subtristis.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
1 1.5-3 cm.  body length.  Spinnerets  short.    Males usually with a small double spur halfway along first leg.  Brown Trapdoor Spiders - dull brown spiders with cover of paler gold hairs on carapace ('dusty' appearance, unlike the 'glossy' Funnel Web carapace).   Abdomen often with pale transverse bars.   Males with thick'boxing glove' palps.   Eyes in two compact rows.    Burrows open (without trapdoor).   Sigillate Trapdoor Spiders - dark brown spiders with glossy carapace and 4-6 hairless spots (sigillae) on top of abdomen.   Eyes in three rows.   Burrows with soil or litter trapdoors.

BITE:
Brown Trapdoor Spiders are often mistaken for Funnel-web Spiders but their bites are not dangerous.
Sigillate Trapdoor Spider bites may be somewhat
more severe but bites are uncommon.

FIRST AID:
Apply cold pack to relieve pain if necessary.
Seek medical attention if symptoms persist. Back

Mouse Spiders
  
    Male & Female Eastern Mouse Spiders     Red Headed Mouse Spider

                    Missulena bradleyi                      Missulena occatoria

Distribution:
Eastern Mouse Spiders are found in east coastal and highland regions. Red-headed Mouse Spiders are found across the continent mainly west of the Great Dividing Range.

IDENTIFICATION and HABIT:
Squat spiders  3 cm long. Carapace glossy; head area high and bulbous, eyes widespread across front.   Spinnerets short and blunt.  Males have characteristically coloured areas on their bodies.  Burrows with two trapdoors.   Males wander during Summer/autumn, especially after rain.

BITE:
Mouse Spider venom may be very toxic, but human envenomations are rare. In serious cases funnel-web spider antivenom has been used effectively.

FIRST AID:
Treat as for Funnel-web spider bite, especially if the victim is a child. Collect spider for identification. Back

Huntsman Spiders
        

    Common Huntsman        Tropical Huntsman         BadgeHuntsman
   Isopeda & holconila              Heteropoda               Neosparassus

Distribution:
Isopeda and Neosparassus are widely distributed in Australia.
Holconia is widespread  in  southern and eastern Australia.
Heteropoda, is common in northern tropical areas.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
Large, long-legged spiders (up to 15 cm across legs), mostly grey to brown, legs sometimes banded.   Isopeda and Holconia have flattened bodies adapted for living under loose bark.
Badge Huntsmen Spiders have distinctive colour combinations of black, white, orange or yellow under the abdomen (the 'badge').
These spiders, and the motley brown, white and black patterned Tropical Huntsmen Spiders, have less flattened bodies and are found on vegetation, bark and in leaf litter.
All of these spiders sometimes enter houses.

BITE:
Badge and Tropical Huntsmen bites can be painful
and may cause transient headache or nausea.

FIRST AID:
Apply cold pack to relieve pain.
Seek Medical attention if symptoms persist. Back

Orb Spiders
                      

St.Andews Cross        Golden Orb        Garden Orb
    Argiope                Nephlia                 Eriophora

Distribution:
Found all over Australia. Common Garden Orb Weavers are Eriophora biapicata and transmarina from eastern and southern Australia.
A common Argiope is the St Andrew's Cross Spider, Argiope keyserlingi, of eastern Australia.

IDENTIFICATION and HABIT:
All  make  suspended,  sticky,  wheel-shaped  orb webs.
The commonly seen Garden Orb Weavers are 2.5 cm in body length.
Most are stout, reddish- brown or grey spiders with a leaf-shaped pattern on their roughly triangular abdomens.
Webs are placed in openings between trees and shrubs where
insects are likely to fly.   Transverse abdominal banding identifies many Banded Orb Weavers.   Some, like Argiope keyserlingi (body 1-1.5 cm.), have thick zig-zag bands of silk in their webs that may attract insect prey by reflecting U-V light.   Their webs are placed among shrubs or long grass. Golden Orb Weavers are large spiders (body 2-4 cm.) with silvery yellow to plum coloured bodies and black, often yellow banded, legs.   Their orb webs are large and may have a'barrier network' of threads.   The silk has a golden sheen.

BITE:
Reluctant to bite, symptoms usually negligible or mild.

FIRST AID:
Apply cold pack to relieve pain if required.
Seek medical attention if symptoms persist. Back

Wolf Spiders
    
Grey Wolf Spider                          Garden Wolf Spider
Lycisidae

Distribution:
All parts of Australia.

IDENTIFICATION and HABITS:
Many species, 1 to 8 cm across legs, robust, agile, ground hunters living in leaf litter or burrows in bushland and gardens.
Eight eyes, four largest arranged in a square on top of head.
Body colours typically drab, most with variegated patterns in brown, grey, black and white.   Underside sometimes with markings.
Jaws often bear an orange spot on sides.

BITE:
Symptoms usually minor - local pain or itchiness.

FIRST AID:
Apply cold pack to relieve pain.
Seek medical attention if symptoms persist. Back

Able Environmental Services
310 Thewlis Road, Pakenham. 3810.
Victoria. Australia.
Telephone : (03) 5941 2399 , Freecall (1800) 808 345
Fax : (03) 5941 3324

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