, they should be
avoided if possible as the bite can be painful. Please note everyone
reacts differently to the venom and you should always seek medical help if
bitten.|
|
Spiders on this page contain venom that affects
humans but is not classed as deadly thus only a single
, they should be
avoided if possible as the bite can be painful. Please note everyone
reacts differently to the venom and you should always seek medical help if
bitten.
These few spiders are from Australia and New Zealand area.
Size:
F 30mm; M 24mm.
Web:
Just a burrow with silk lining.
Habitat:
Soil that's good for burrowing into.
Range:
Western Australia.
Season:
Adult females all year; males August-December.
Australian Whistling Tarantula:
(Selenocosmia stirlingi)
A brown tarantula with a dense covering of hairs and a pair of long spinnerets.
It hunts insects and small vertebrates during the night and spends the day deep
in its burrow. Its known as the whistling spider because when catching prey or
court shipping it rubes its palps against its jaw and its makes the noise. They
become aggressive when threatened and have a toxic venom to humans but not
deadly.
Size:
F 55mm; M 40mm.
Web:
silk burrow and opens to a funnel shaped entrance.
Habitat:
Eucalypt forest, acacia thickets and grassland.
Range:
Australia, including Queensland, northern territories and new south Wales.
Season:
Adults mostly all year; mating activity during summer rains.
Katipo:
(Latrodectus katipo)
The female Katipo is black with a red stripe across the abdomen. The much
smaller male has a brown carapace with a central black band and a white abdomen
with two irregular black bands enclosing a string of orange, diamond shaped
patches. The spider’s web is built close to the ground and catches mostly
beetles, many larger than the spider its self.
Size:
F
10mm; M 4mm.
Web:
A tangle web with taut threads below bearing sticky globules.
Habitat:
Coastal dunes, especially among marram grass.
Range:
New Zealand (North island and northern parts of the south island).
Season:
Adults female probably all year; males September-November.
Giant huntsman: (Holconia immanis) An impressive species, especially when found in a house. The carapace is a dark olive brown and the abdomen pale grey with black cardiac marks. The long banned legs extend sideways. This spider is an agile, nocturnal hunter whose diet includes large insects and small vertebrates. During the mating season, the male and female cohabit. The female guards her eggs and cares for the young. The spider’s bit is painful but not highly toxic.
Size:
F 35mm; M 25mm.
Web:
None
Habitat:
Forest, gardens and in buildings.
Range:
Australia; introduced to New Zealand.
Season:
Adults females and year, males October-April
White tailed spider:
(Lampona cylindrata)
A sleek, furry spider with a rather slender and cylindrical body. The other
colour ranges from grey to reddish brown or bluish black but there's always a
white spot at the end of the abdomen. The male has a hard plate towards the
front of the abdomen. At night this vagabond spider forages on walls, walking
slowly. It may enter the webs of other spiders and capture the host. It can
bite humans with effect local to the site of the bite.
Size:
F 14mm; M 10mm.
Web:
None.
Habitat:
on trees or buildings.
Range:
S
Australia and Tasmania; introduced to new Zealand.
Season:
both sexes mature late in summer.
This section has spiders in Australia and New Zealand but not contained in those area, these are more cosmopolitan.
Violin Spider:
(loxosceles rufescens) A delicate,
beige brown spider with long legs. It has a dark mark on the carapace that
looks like a violin. The eyes are arranged into three pairs. The abdomen is
paler than the carapace. Violin spiders generally roam at night in search of
prey but they also weave a web to entangle insects. They are not aggressive and
rarely bite
humans.
Size:
F 8mm; M 7mm.
Web:
A rough sheet of sticky silk.
Habitat:
Under stones and loose bark, in
caves and buildings
range:
S Europe and N Africa; introduced to Japan, N
America, Australia and New Zealand.
Season:
Adults all yea
Woodlouse Spider:
(Dysdera crocota)
This species looks rather sinister with its reddish carapace and legs
contrasting with a cream or grey abdomen, and absence of hairs. It usually
lives close to numbers of Woodlouse its favourite prey. It lives in a silk
retreat, where the eggs are laid, its active during night time for hunting
excursion. The bite is painful but not strong.
Size:
F 15mm; M 10mm.
Web:
None.
Habitat:
Under stones and logs; in and around buildings (in crevices).
Range: Europe; introduced to
Japan, N and S America, s Africa,
Australia and New Zealand.
Season:
Adults all year.
Tube web spider:
(Segestria florentina)
an impressive spider seen during the night or when food is at the entrance of
the web, this black cigar shaped body had iridescent green mouth parts that are
"unmistakable". They make a tube shaped web that's made up from holes in walls
or tree trunks, and they have neat trip lines radiating from the entrance and
they are used for transporting vibrations made my other living things e.g. Male
spider or insect food. They place the first six legs on the trip lines and wait
for the vibrations.
Size:
F 22mm; M 15mm.
Web:
Simple tubular shape with trip lines radiating.
Habitat:
Old walls, rocks, under stones and tree bark.
Range:
Cosmopolitan, including
Europe,
Argentina and New Zealand.
Season:
In Europe, adults June-November.
Sri Lankan Ornamental tarantula: (Poecilotheria
fasciata)
Beautifully marked but with temperamental problems. The dark abdomen has a
broad, central, cream band that's edged in black and five oblique marks. Their
carapace is grey with cream markings and the legs are banded black and white
with yellow at the bottom but only on the first two legs. They are nocturnal and
live in trees and known locally as "tree spiders".
Size:
F 65mm; M 50mm.
web:
A mass of silk surrounds the entrance.
Habitat:
Tropical forests and sometimes in buildings.
Range:
Sri
Lanka.
Season:
Adults all year; mating activity during hot humid seasons.
Size: F 65mm; M 45mm.
Web: None, but silk threads extend from the
burrow's entrance.
Habitat: Seasonal forest./span>
Range:
E Africa: Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Season: Adults all year; mating during rainy
seasons
Kenyan hunting spider:
(Ctenus modetus)
a large grey and silver, long legged spider that resembles the wolf spider.
Like other species of the genus, this one is a vagrant that does not build a
retreat but rests inside spiny and prickly plants. On the spider’s abdomen,
tufts of stiff white hairs may be seen projecting upwards. The female carries
her enormous egg sac under body. This spider is likely to be aggressive if
provoked and may give a painful bite.
Size:
F 25mm; M 20mm.
Web: None.
Habitat: tropical forest and savannah.
Range:
Kenya.
Season: Adults probably all year.
Spanish Funnel Web Spider:
(Macrothele calpeiana) One of Europe's largest and most
fierce looking spider, most of its relatives lives in the tropics. This is a
unique spider and deserves a lot of appreciation; it has a low laying satin
black coloured back with long flexible spinnerets and is considered
"unmistakable". Females look like the males but have bigger bums.
Size: F 32mm;
M 27mm.
Web: Funnel shaped web with trip line at the
entrance (s) among stones or roots.
Pine of cork oak forest also stones by road
side.
Range:
W Andalusia
(Spain) and NW Africa.
Season:
Adult females all year; males active
March to October
Cellar spider: (Steatoda
Grossa) A black or purplish brown,
rounded spider often with a vague pattern of pale makings on his rounded abdomen
(a semicircle and three spots). The body never has any red markings. The
male's abdomen has a series of white marks. Like some of the other lager tangle
weavers, this species is mildly venomous, white egg sacs, like cotton balls, are
suspended among the web. After the spiderlings emerge they share the mother's
prey.
Size:
F
10mm; M 6mm.
Web:
A
tangle web with taut threads below bearing sticky globules.
Habitat:
Cellars, outbuilding, hollow trees and caves.
Range:
Cosmopolitan: Europe, Asia, N and S America.
Season:
Adult females all year; males in summer.
False widow spider:
(Steatoda paykullianus)
This species resembles the deadly black widow spider. The carapace, legs and
abdomen are all blackish. There is an orange, red or maybe yellow band at the
front of the abdomen and also lengthwise along the centre. The male is slimmer
than the female but it’s the female that have the mildly poisonous bite. The
web of these spiders is referred to "spring trap".
Size:
F
15mm; M 7mm.
Web:
A
tangle web with taut threads below bearing sticky globules.
Habitat:
Under rocks and stones, in building and plantations.
Range:
S
Europe: N Africa and W Asia.
Season:
Adult females all year; males in the spring and autumn.
Brown widow spider:
(Latrodectus geometricus)
This tangle web weaver is a house spider in many warm countries. The adult
female is usually brown but varies from almost black, to cream with brown
markings, and to bluish grey. There is usually an orange "hourglass" marking on
the underside. The bite may be painful but is not highly poisonous. The male is
small and lacks the hourglass marking.
Size:
F
12mm; M 5mm.
Web:
An
untidy tangle web with taut threads below bearing sticky globules.
Habitat:
Buildings: corners of rooms, under ledges; in gardens on opuntia and cactus.
Range:
Cosmopolitan in warm countries.
Season:
Adults all year.
This
image is copyrighted to Helena Tugwell - Essex
Yard spider/hobo spider:
(Tegenaria agrestis)
A mottled
grey brown spider, greenish in certain light. It is a European species that has
spread to the Pacific Northwest of the USA where it has become known for
aggression; it’s said this spiders bites more humans in America than in Europe.
In Europe it builds sheet webs in wastelands but in America is home is back
yards and in direct contact with humans.
Size:
F
15mm; M 10mm.
Web:
A
rough sheet with a funnel retreat, built among wood or other debris on the
ground.
Habitat:
Gardens, yards, wastelands and open areas.
Range:
Europe and N America.
Season:
adults June-November.
Slender sac spider:
(Cheiracanthium mildei)
A
straw coloured spider with large, shiny black jaws and a glossy brown carapace.
The male is smaller than the female but has longer legs. The flat, papery
retreat is built in a folded leaf or, for example folds of curtains. At night
the spider leaves the retreat to forage as a hunter. It is fast, agile and very
aggressive. A bite from this species may cause blisters of the skin.
Size:
F 10mm;
M 8mm.
Web:
None,
but makes a tough sac like retreat.
Habitat:
grassland, heather and shrubs, buildings in N America.
Range:
S
Europe, N Africa and W Asia; introduced to N America.
Season:
Adults
May-July.
Steatoda Nobilis:
A relative
to the false widow. Little is know about this spider. It’s brown in
colour
with pale markings; some recorded pictures show a white line round the front of
the abdomen and sometimes a white stripe down the back with brown markings
either side. It’s the female that has the bite. It can with stand British
winters to temperatures of -5C. I will update as I get more information.
Size:
F 15mm; M 10mm.
Web:
Buildings and sheds also under window seals.
Habitat:
walls, fences also lose objects like tree bark.
Range:
First found in the canary islands UK but is on the move... Reported places are:
Essex, Westcliff-on-Sea, Kent, Surrey, Portsmouth, Dorset, West Sussex, Torquay,
Warwick and
Worthing.
Season:
Adults from June-November
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