White_tailed Spider (Lampona murina)

White Tailed Spider

Lampona Murina

This big female White-tailed Spider stalks a Badumna longuinquus or Brown House Spider.

She is in the alert position and ready to leap forward should her prey make a false move or get tired and lose concentration. Her prey is very much aware of her presence but this species and their close relatives the Black House Spider (Badumna insignis) think of their webs as safe havens.

The White-tailed Spider will sit for hours without moving once once she gets this close to an attack. I suspect it is a deadly game for both spiders.

Once, on the roof of my kitchen I watched a White-tailed Spider maintain the pose for days. One morning I came to get breakfast and both spiders were gone

.. These spiders are common under rocks in gardens and will often come into houses hunting their favourite food. I have had these spiders about for years and never seen one looking to attack a human although the males are a bit scarey as they are very active in the mating season and can be found all over the place.

I don't kill spiders in my home and unless you have very small children it is not necessary to kill everything that crawls and looks nasty. They are a part of good gardening and looking after your world.

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