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This
image is copyrighted to Col Halliday from Australia
Size:
F 35mm; M 25mm.
web: A funnel-web normally
burrowed in with trip threads around the entrance(s).
Habitat: Forest and gardens.
Range: Australia: new south
Wales and Victoria.
Season: Females all year; males
active November-March.
Brown Recluse Spider:
(Loxosceles reclusa)
A very small but
deadly spider, this spider is a shy spider and looks like the violin spider but
the bit is worse. They live in buildings and can often be found in the corner
of rooms or in cupboards, also can be found in baths and showers as well as
other places. They spin an irregular web but also they forage around at night.
When this goes on it's nocturnal walks and it happens to find a human in the way
of it's path it primes its fangs and ouch your foot hurts!! (were bigger but
they bite us if we get in the way) or if it should find our cloths then it will
make a living, again we humans get in the way. It's a little spider with a BIG
attitude. The bit affect the tissue around that bite making big hole around the
area it struck. This can lead to death without medical help.
Size:
F 9mm; M 8mm.
Web:
a
rough sheet of sticky silk.
Habitat:
Under stones/rocks, loose bark also caves and buildings.
Range:
N America.
Season:
adults all year.
Black widow:
(Latrodectus
mactans)
The most well know spider for all the wrong
reason because of the deadly bite it administers and the very unmistakable
markings. The female is about the size of a thumbnail with satin black body and
the unmistakable red "hourglass" marking on the underside, the female is the one
that gives a poisonous bite. The male is very pale and does not give the
poisonous bite. The female has the power to overcome large prey like scorpions
just by spraying gummy silk at them as they struggle in the web. The egg sac of
this spider is not white but brown and papery.
Size:
F 16mm; 5mm.
Web:
A tangle web with taut threads below
bearing sticky globules.
Habitat:
Building, plantation and stony places and maybe in your clean
washing!!.
Range:
Southern USA and other warm regions of the
world.
Season:
Depends on location.
Red back
spider:
(Latrodectus hasselti)
The notorious red back of Australia,
with its very painful bite, is the equivalent of a black widow in north
America. It is satin black or dark brown in
colour
and can be identified by the broad or slender red stripe on the upper surface of
the abdomen. The pale brown male is much smaller and does not bite.
Size:
F 14mm; M 4mm.
Web:
A tangle web with taut threads below bearing sticky globules.
Habitat:
Dry, stony regions and building, or
maybe even your washing.
Range:
Gulf regions and Australia: introduced
to New Zealand and Japan.
Season: Adults probably all
year.
Malmignatte:
(Latrodectus
tredecimguttatus) A very attractive
species of the tangle web group related to the black widow and red back spider.
The fully grown adult females have a round, black abdomen beautifully marked
with 13 red spots. The male is smaller and marked with white. A dark variety
of this species, found widely in the Mediterranean, may have red bars on the
underside but lacks the 13 red spots.
Size:
F 15mm; M 7mm.
Web: A tangle web with taut
threads below bearing sticky globules.
Habitat: stony areas with
Mediterranean shrubs.
Range: S Europe (typical
spotted form in Corsica)
Season: Adult females
May-November; mates June-July.
Brazilian wandering spider:
(Phoneutria
nigriventer)
A notorious species that causes considerable
fear. This spider is large, fast, agile and bites readily. When provoked, it
makes a threat display by raising its first two pairs of legs and exposing its
red jaws. Most of the body is a sandy brown but the underside reveals a patch
of black. This spider hunts large insects and small vertebrates.
Size:
F 35mm; M 25mm.
Web:
None.
Habitat:
Buildings, plantation and wastelands: in
banana leaves, etc.
Range: S Brazil, Paraguay,
Uruguay and Argentina.
Season:
Adults all year.
bravenet.com