The Water Spider, (Argyroneta aquatica), lives underwater, where it builds a bell-shaped home of silk and fills this structure with air that it carries down from the surface. It is common in ponds and lakes of temperate Europe and Asia. The diving bell spider or water spider is the only species of spider known to live […]
Tengellid Spiders
The Tengellid spiders (family Tengellidae) include eight genera and a little over 30 species worldwide. The family is confined to the New World, with two monotypic genera occurring in Madagascar and New Zealand, respectively. Like most spiders, they have eight eyes. The characters defining the family are technical and there are still some disagreements as to […]
Money Spider
Spiders in this family are commonly known as sheet weavers (from the shape of their webs), or money spiders (in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and in Portugal, from the superstition that if such a spider is seen running on you, it has come to spin you new clothes, meaning financial good fortune). Of the 620 species […]
Cyclosa Conica
Cyclosa conica is a small spider with no common name. It is an orb weaver, and it is easily recognized by the way it strings together the dead bodies of insects and other debris and hangs it near the centre of its web. It hides on this string of debris, and its natural coloration makes it […]
Red Spotted Ant Mimic Spider
Members of the genus Castianeira are considered mimics of large ants, such as carpenter ants, and mutillid wasps, which are known as “velvet ants.” These spiders walk about slowly the way ants do and then only move fast when disturbed. Castianeira descripta, the red spotted ant mimic spider only walks with six legs, like an ant. As […]
Red & Black Spider – Nicodamus peregrinus
Habitat and Biology: In summer, male Nicodamus peregrinus spiders leave their web, during daylight hours, and wander in search of females. This wandering habit often brings them indoors. Due to the red and black colour, the spider is often confused with the red-back spider and, as red is a common warning colour, the spider is […]
Triangular Spider
Australia has about 9 species of Triangular Spiders, which ambush insects. The Triangular Spiders Latin name is Arkys Lancearias. Its full size is about the size of a twenty cent piece. The abdomen is small and flat. It is shaped from a triangular shape to a heart shape with white circles. The front legs are strong […]
Tent Spider
There are many different species of Tent Spiders in Australia. The largest Tent Spider is 19 mm (around 1 inch) long and is found in the northern parts of Australia. The female has a grey head and a black body with white spots. The tiny male Tent Spider has an orange body. The Latin name for […]
Daddy Long Legs
The animal which most biologists call “daddy-long-legs”, is a spider, Pholcus phalangioides, which belongs to the spider family Pholcidae, order Araneida, class Arachnida. Pholcid spiders are araneomorph spiders which kill and digest their prey using venom. However there is no scientific basis for the urban myth that daddy-long-legs are the most venomous, poisonous or toxic spiders […]
Nursery Web Spider
Nursery Web spiders – (Pisaurina sp. Family Pisauridae) – These spiders resemble the wolf spiders (Lycosidae), but have a different eye pattern. Pisaurids have their eyes arranged in 2 rows, the posterior row slightly recurved, the median eyes in the second row slighly (if any) larger than the others. (Wolf spiders have eyes arranged in 3 rows). The […]
