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There are two main types of spiders:
Primitive spiders (Mygalomorphs) which:
* take in air through two pairs of abdominal pouches called
book-lungs
* have fangs (chelicerae) that work up and down like a pick axe
* do not hang in webs of silk, but may live in silk-lined burrows
and spin egg sacs
* resemble spiders found only in the fossil record from 300 million
years ago
* include the funnel-web, trapdoor, tarantulas and brush-footed spiders.
True or modern spiders (Araneomorphs) which:
* take in air through one pair of book-lungs and through tracheal
tubes
* have fangs (chelicerae) that work from side-to-side like pincers
* can manipulate the silk they produce to make webs and attach
themselves to the web
* include most other Australian spiders.
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UNIDENTIFIED |
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20 July, 2008:
hello....recently i found this spider while i was digging in my yard...there is no information on it anywhere that i have looked....its very vicious, walks around on ten legs,,ten legs?...bites anything you put in front of it...there was no webbing no rock no tunnel no nothing...just this thing balled up in the dirt about a foot down...almost like it was hibernating or something...seemed really pissed off that i woke it up...dosent like the light...i dont know what to do....i took some pictures of it and hopefully you can tell me what it is...
thank you for your time and concern...
sincerly...brandon..
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22 June, 2008:
Hello Glen from Texas!
I'd like to start with I love your website! We just bought our first home and it helped us identify the Wolf Spiders that we've been finding by dozen! It's a new construction neighborhood so I know we'll have plenty of finds as they continue digging up the lot next to ours. I found two of these guys on our back patio this morning though and I'm not quite sure what they are. I had to keep our 7 week old puppy from playing with it! I took him in the house and went for my camera and when I came out this guy was 'playing dead' I got real close and personal and started snapping away and mid photo-shoot he got up and wandered off! Please help!
PS I'm an amatuer photographer (HAHA) in training so my photos aren't as beautiful as most of the ones from your readers! :-)
Jen
Wylie, TX
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22 June, 2008:
Hi Spiderzrule,
My name is Tarni, and I live in a small town called Waubra.
I found this spider (see pic attatched) just outside the back door of our house, after dark, on the concrete. We had recently had decent rain, after a lenghty period without any, so I am supposing that may be why it was so close to the house. If it helps we have volcanic soil, and numerous cypress pines, which keeps the soil moist. Can you please identify it if you can and let me know what it is. We have plenty of them here, but I can find no one who can tell me what they are.
Thank you for your time.
Yours Sincerely, Tarni
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Reply: It could be an Australian Tarantula - one of
the trapdoor varieities.
10 June, 2008:
Hi Glen we have just found this one in our house. It is approximately 10 to 15 cms long. We are on the north part of the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland. Never seen anything like this. Can you please help
Regards Krish
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28 April, 2007:
Hello, I had a look on your website but
could not find this spider. We found it
on the Finke River Dirt Road in NT,
about 300km West of Alice Springs. It
was huge! and of course all ran for
miles but thought we should get some
photos to prove the size of this thing,
we all thought it was something out of
Archnaphobia, hehe. Can you please ID it
for us?
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2 March, 2007:
Hi Glen, I regularly check out your photo page to
see if anything new has been posted and noticed that
you have not put any new photos on since October,
2006. I dont know whether this is because you have
not had any submissions or you have discontinued
updating the page. So, in case you are still in the
business of posting new photos, I am sending you a
couple photos of Mygalomorphae for which we have had
some difficulty obtaining positive identification,
There is some suggestion that they are species of
Trapdoors. So maybe if you post them on your site,
some body may see them and come up with a more
positve answer. You have to admit, they are not what
you would call attractive ladies.
Regards, Col Halliday
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PURSE WEB |
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The Purse-Web Spider (Atypus affinis) is a species of myglamorph.
The spider lives inside a subterranean silken tube a small part of
which lies on the surface of the soil. When an insect walks over the
tube the spider rushes up the tube, upside down, sinks its fans into
the prey, devours it and then repairs the tube.
Purse Web Spiders (Atypus) belong to the sub-order
Orthognatha (Mygalomorphae) or primitive spiders and are recognised
by their large fangs.
Their size varies between 10 and 15 mm. In Europe only two
members of this sub-order can be found. In Australia 13% of the
spiders belong to the Mygalomorphae. Purse Web spider go back 360
million years and are very timid spiders. They are related to
Tarantulas and Funnel Web spiders.
Most
of these spiders live fearful lives buried deep in holes. They react
on unexpected events by cowering in fear, unable to move, or by
violently plunging their pickaxe fangs. The Purse Web spiders are
named for their webs, which are purse-like, long tubes that stick
out from their burrows They dig a hole, up to 50 cm deep, in the
ground and line it up with silk. Above the ground the tube extends
for several centimeters. The tube is covered with soil and debris
and therefore difficult to spot.
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10 June, 2007:
Spiderz rule~
I live in the U.S. in Western Oregon. I was digging through our dirt
pile and found this spider. It was burrowed down, but not too deep
(then again, I was digging through the dirt, so I could've messed it
up), and (obviously) with an egg sac so I think it's female. I've found
two others (don't have pictures, sorry) with bigger abdomens that are a
slightly lighter color. I think it might be a burrowing wolf spider, or
something in the trapdoor family. I'm sending these in a hope you can
help me figure out what this is! Mostly I'm just very curious.
Thanks~
Rebekkah
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Reply: This spider has
the same dot on its abdomen as the purse web spider
below so perhaps it is also a purse web. glen
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22 July, 2006:
Hi there. I live in Victoria BC Canada and my puppy was bitten
by a
spider and I am having SO many problems trying to find out what
it is.
I
know it is harmless because he was bitten 3 days ago and is
fine.
But
I also know that it has a painful bite because he was crying a
lot
when
it happened.
Thanks a lot!
Kendra
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22 June, 2003:
Hi there. I love your spider website and I thought you may be
interested in these photos I snapped of a Purse Web (Atypidae)
spider I found while digging in my garden in North Vancouver, B.C.,
Canada. The body size of this spider is about 25 mm. Despite its
terrifying appearance, it is a real coward. It is a mygalomorph,
related to tarantulas and funnel web spiders.
Best regards,
Todd Johnson
North Vancouver, Canada |
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CYRTAUCHONIIDAE |
16 June, 2003:
Okay then, first up, the very cranky Mygalomorph I found in
Baja California, Mexico. My biologist friend, with whom I've been
working on a local spider survey, tells me I'm partially right about
the ID of this spider. It IS a Mygalomorph, but not a trapdoor
spider. He says, " Your mygalomorph is a member of the Family
Cyrtauchoniidae. That's a mouthful. They were once classified in the
trapdoor family but were recently split. They tend to burrow into
sand dunes. I have found them when digging for sand dune spiders,
Lutica. The family needs revision in a big way. There are apparently
several undescribed genera and species waiting for someone to work
up." We found this guy all rolled up playing dead in the dirt. It
came to life when I got my camera out, and put on a rather
unfriendly display of fangs and legs, which allowed me to identify
it as a myg. After annoying it a while, we let it go in a nice bush.
barb |
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