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Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Arachnid
Size 816 x 612
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I have absolutely NO idea. it was just sitting there. Hanging. Chilling from my ceiling, casually cleaning itself like it hadn't just scared the bejeezus out of me. This is not, by the way, a small spider. It was about 8cm (~4inches) from front leg to back leg, and around 3 inches or so wide? I dunno, it was BIG (especially for the spider it's markings resemble!).
Naturally, I took a picture of it, and then called for my dad to come kill it, because I -really- didn't want to bug spray it (IT MIGHT FALL ON MY FACE AAAAH) and ...yeah. It isn't a redback, the legs are too muscly and it's butt is the wrong shape for it, and the stripe is white not red, and there's too much of a torso... it ALMOST looks like a hutsman, but the're grey/brown and more mottled in colour and there's that SODDING STRIPE. I dunno, a male redback got lucky with a female huntsy? I dunno. It's scary. It also isn't the right shape/size for a white tail spider.
And now it's flat! And squashed and crunched and dead and I've still got the jeeblies.
Australia; just when you thought you knew what could kill you, it throws you a curve ball of holy fuck!
Naturally, I took a picture of it, and then called for my dad to come kill it, because I -really- didn't want to bug spray it (IT MIGHT FALL ON MY FACE AAAAH) and ...yeah. It isn't a redback, the legs are too muscly and it's butt is the wrong shape for it, and the stripe is white not red, and there's too much of a torso... it ALMOST looks like a hutsman, but the're grey/brown and more mottled in colour and there's that SODDING STRIPE. I dunno, a male redback got lucky with a female huntsy? I dunno. It's scary. It also isn't the right shape/size for a white tail spider.
And now it's flat! And squashed and crunched and dead and I've still got the jeeblies.
Australia; just when you thought you knew what could kill you, it throws you a curve ball of holy fuck!
Category Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Arachnid
Size 816 x 612px
File Size 94.4 kB
It was a male orb weaver. Spider menfolk are stereotyped as tiny compared to the females, but I've observed old males grow even larger than the average female in species such as araneus diadetamus and araneus cavaticus. It could also be a female that had just made a clutch of eggs, but thats not likely considering where it was, and what it was doing. He most likely wandered into your house desperate to find a mate.
According to here:
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/.....spider-152675/
It might be a female orb weaver of some sorts.
but aye, that would've scared the living crap out of me xP
At least it's dead, and not a danger anymore xP
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/.....spider-152675/
It might be a female orb weaver of some sorts.
but aye, that would've scared the living crap out of me xP
At least it's dead, and not a danger anymore xP
Wrong buttshape for the orb weaver -- we've got quite a few of those around the house. And they are -usually- a browny-grey colour not pure black like this one. All black spiders with distinctive/contrasting colours are -usually- poisonous. Also, the legs are too thick to be a weaver, I think, or web-spinning spider, they're usually thinner, more suited to handling fine fillaments rather than tackling strength. Dad said the rear end was -close- to the huntsman (aka brown recluse) but the wrong colour and that sodding STRIPE.
Wrong legs for redback, and the white stripe negates that too, funnelwebs are east-coaster spiders and would NOT inhabit an area that big, period. Mouse spiders have a very distinctive round butt, or they have the mother of all fangs that are BRIGHT RED.
Female Mouse: http://www.petsfoto.com/wp-content/.....e-Spiders2.jpg
male mouse: http://www.ozanimals.com/image/albu.....use-spider.jpg
Garden orb: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/.....ae84debf_z.jpg
wasp-mimic: http://www.bugblitz.com.au/images/u.....s/P1016249.JPG <--- See the fingerprints for size? My above mutant of something or other is HUGE and not just a little spider, 8cm from leg to leg and that would be lucky to be 4mm. The legs are a solid colour and not patterned like the wasp mimic.
And the funnelweb: http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/.....8/mn015913.jpg
Angular rear end, thick legs, lightly fuzzed, good sized fangs, the distinctive singular stripe down it's butt and the fact that it's hanging from the web removes it from the crawling category and... aaah I have no idea what it is. Thanks for the ideas though!
Female Mouse: http://www.petsfoto.com/wp-content/.....e-Spiders2.jpg
male mouse: http://www.ozanimals.com/image/albu.....use-spider.jpg
Garden orb: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/.....ae84debf_z.jpg
wasp-mimic: http://www.bugblitz.com.au/images/u.....s/P1016249.JPG <--- See the fingerprints for size? My above mutant of something or other is HUGE and not just a little spider, 8cm from leg to leg and that would be lucky to be 4mm. The legs are a solid colour and not patterned like the wasp mimic.
And the funnelweb: http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/.....8/mn015913.jpg
Angular rear end, thick legs, lightly fuzzed, good sized fangs, the distinctive singular stripe down it's butt and the fact that it's hanging from the web removes it from the crawling category and... aaah I have no idea what it is. Thanks for the ideas though!
I'd love to see a better detailed picture, because seeing the eyes and pedipalps is pretty essential to identifying spiders too. From what I can tell.. crossreferencing my field guide.. this spider could be some species of...
Nursery web spider.
Orb weaver.
Wandering spider.
Spitting spider.
(In order of likelihood I think)
That's judging just from the size of the head segment and pedipalps.
I see an atari-symbol on its head!
I'm thinking it's most likely a nursery web or orb weaver.
Gonna keep exploring and report in later.
Nursery web spider.
Orb weaver.
Wandering spider.
Spitting spider.
(In order of likelihood I think)
That's judging just from the size of the head segment and pedipalps.
I see an atari-symbol on its head!
I'm thinking it's most likely a nursery web or orb weaver.
Gonna keep exploring and report in later.
Sorry! I couldn't get an angle where you can see the fangs and eyes, with any sort of real clarity (I have another picture where it's more flat against the ceiling -- we shone a light on it to try and see more clearly what it was and apparently it didn't like the light, though it was fine with my camera flash) but they are well muscled and bulby, so it's got a powerful bite. And the eyes are uh, black? I -think- it has two sets of large, primary forward facing eyes. One pair just above the fangs, and another ontop of its head.
As to the nursery web: maybe. The stripe of their patterns (according to google images) runs the length of the body, thorax and abdomen included, and this stripe is clearly only on the butt. And, the stripe is usually just a different shade of the base colour, so light brown and dark brown. Black and grey, but it's white.
: p You can't rely on color patterns to identify spiders, sadly.
Even though that's this guy's primary distinguishing feature, it's useless in trying to identify him because we aren't really trying to identify species (which would take some serious records), but instead the best we can do is identify its family.
Which is fine, because that's what we do naturally.. common names for spiders usually refer to its family, not its species. A 'nursery web spider' is actually any of like 300 species, all with really different patterns and colors. You can pinpoint the species usually only if you first pinpoint the family.
The best way to identify a spider is to collect all of the following: Eye size/placement (8 in total), bodysize, legspan, head-and-pedipalp-shape, buttshape, webshape. The most telling of those is the eyes, that changes very little within a family.
Either way if she's an aussie, she won't be in my field guides, so you're on your own. :3
Even though that's this guy's primary distinguishing feature, it's useless in trying to identify him because we aren't really trying to identify species (which would take some serious records), but instead the best we can do is identify its family.
Which is fine, because that's what we do naturally.. common names for spiders usually refer to its family, not its species. A 'nursery web spider' is actually any of like 300 species, all with really different patterns and colors. You can pinpoint the species usually only if you first pinpoint the family.
The best way to identify a spider is to collect all of the following: Eye size/placement (8 in total), bodysize, legspan, head-and-pedipalp-shape, buttshape, webshape. The most telling of those is the eyes, that changes very little within a family.
Either way if she's an aussie, she won't be in my field guides, so you're on your own. :3
Oops, I just realized that your spider is likely to be australian. :T
My field guides are for north american spiders, so I may not be able to find a match, but we can at least get close.
Considering the australian nature of this beastie, he could be a type of huntsman spider, or flat huntsman (there are hundreds of varieties.) Hope that helps!
My field guides are for north american spiders, so I may not be able to find a match, but we can at least get close.
Considering the australian nature of this beastie, he could be a type of huntsman spider, or flat huntsman (there are hundreds of varieties.) Hope that helps!
http://www.spiders.us/species/herpy.....cclesiasticus/ is the closest i have found so far, but i dont think its that. i shall keep searching!! :D
Wrong butt shape, I know the leg orientation is a little hard to tell, but it wasn't an even distribution forming a circle, there were two forward and two hind pairs. The ground spider has a break in the stripe but this one's stripe is uniform and the spinarrets were not as pronounced.
Morphology supports this is an orb weaver. Leg shape and hair helps with ID, along with disposition. Cephalathorax shape and development, along with abdomen shape corresponds with typical male look. A good view of the palps would verify sex.
I don't have a great archive of Australian species, but I would guess Eriophora transmarina. Color can be highly variable in this species, but one colorform includes dark color with light stripe down abdomen.
Spider is likely harmless.
I don't have a great archive of Australian species, but I would guess Eriophora transmarina. Color can be highly variable in this species, but one colorform includes dark color with light stripe down abdomen.
Spider is likely harmless.
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