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

Thomisidae, Crab Spiders

Wikipedia states that crab spiders of Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes; some are wandering hunters and the most widely known are ambush predators. Some species sit on or beside flowers or fruit, where they grab visiting insects.

 

 Individuals of some species, such as Misumena vatia, are able to change color over a period of some days, to match the flower on which they are sitting. Some species frequent promising positions among leaves or bark, where they await prey, and some of them will sit in the open, where they are startlingly good mimics of bird droppings.

 

Tharpyna diademata

Diaea evanedes

Runcina acuminata

Sidymella longipes

Sidymella hirsute and trapezia