Backyard Spiders. Budgewoi to Bateau Bay.
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This site was built with assistance from the following sites and people. We recommend them for further information and identification and thank their builders and owners for the excellent resources they have provided.
Dr. Ron Atkinson's. Find A Spider Guide. Robert Whyte and Dr. Greg Anderson's Arachne.org. The Chew Brothers' Brisbane Insects.
Ed Nieuwenhueys. Spiders of Australia. as well as Project Noah.
BN98181215
Quick guide to common spiders
ARANEIDAE Orb Weavers
CORINNIDAE Corinnids
DESIDAE Intertidal Spiders
DEINOPIDAE Net-casters
HERSILIIDAE Two-tailed Spiders
LAMPONIDAE White tails
LYCOSIDAE Wolf Spiders
OXYOPIDAE Lynx Spider
SPARASSIDAE Huntsman
TETRAGNATHIDAE
THERIDIIDAE Theridiids
THOMISIDAE Crab spiders
ZORIDAE. Wandering Ghosts
Wolf Spider. Venatrix speciosa
This Wolf Spider made its way into the apartment one night moving along at about 1.5m high on the curtains and made furious jumps from fold to fold before it was caught, photographed and removed. This was October at Bateau Bay. It seemed very excited and it was a relief to move it outside again.
Probably Venatrix speciosa although there are a couple of other Venatrix species it could be. The specimen below was identified by me as V. furcillata but is the same species as the one above I think. The images are ten months apart with the lower being taken in January at the same apartment. The grub appears to be a parasite eating the spider.
Extra references
http://www.lycosidae.info/identification/australia/firstpage.html
