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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 centimetres. The tube is covered with soil and debris
and therefore difficult to spot.
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14 August, 2010:
Hi,
I live in west Volusia County (Central Florida). A couple of mornings this past June, I walked onto my front porch to a spider I had never seen before. Blue being a rare color in the animal kingdom, some zoo friends and I researched it, and came back with a male purseweb spider.. There was one the following day, and a dead one found the day after that, still with the blue abdomen, which faded to black over time. Since it was difficult finding accurate pictures, descriptions, and information on this spider, I thought you might like to have the image for your site. The picture has been slightly cropped, and lightened a little to bring up the details in the dark spider, but no coloration changes were made.. The whole spider was probably the size of a quarter, including the leg span.
Sincerely,
Audrey
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Reply:
It is some sort of a
myglamorph and a male, possibly a purse web spider -
glen
1 August, 2010:
Hello!
You don't have to post this on your site or anything, I am just genuinely curious as to what kind of spider this is I found in my yard..
I live in southern Georgia, in a very wooded area.
Thanks for your time,
KatieClick for a larger view.
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31 July, 2010:
Hey Glen thanks for getting back to me. After doing some research I found that my spider strongly resembles a purse web spider. I used the first attached picture as a reference point I found on the web. The second attached picture is another I took. Can you confirm this?
P.S. If you look closely at this second picture I took, you can notice small pedipalps. Also, you are more than welcome to post these pics I took on your site.
Thanks, Phil
20 July, 2010:
Hello sir, can you please help me identify the attached spider? I could not find a picture on your extensive website. It was found in southeastern PA crawling across my patio. Moves very slowly. The mandibels are extremely large compared to the rest of the spider and I have never seen anything like it in this area. Thanks a lot.
Phillip
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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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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
Click for a larger view. |
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Reply:
That is a species of purseweb spider : Sphodros rufipes. Its
bite would be
quite painful, but is not considered dangerous to normal, healthy
humans - Nathan Hepworth
8
June,
2005:
Glen, Here are the pictures of the
unknown spider.............................sorry these are not the
best pictures but they might help.......I agree with you that it
looks like the woodlouse spider, but I think this is something
different.....I spent some time on the internet on Monday but could
not find anything like it....the woodlouse was the closest thing,
but this spider has a dark body...............hope these pics help.
Let me know if you come up with something , Thanks, Scott
Sorrell
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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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