where do funnel-web spiders live in australia?
Funnel-web spiders live in the moist forest regions of the east coast and highlands of Australia from Tasmania to north Queensland . They are also found in the drier open forests of the Western Slopes of the Great Dividing Range and South Australia’s Gulf region.
australian funnel-web spider habitat
Funnel-webs burrow in moist, cool, sheltered habitats – under rocks, in and under rotting logs, crevices, rot and borer holes in rough-barked trees . In gardens, they prefer rockeries and dense shrubberies, and are rarely found in more open situations like lawns.
australian funnel-web spider life cycle
Funnel-webs mature in about two to four years, with the females living to ten or more years, and the males dying about six to nine months after maturity . The spider’s famous bite is dangerous and can cause serious illness or death.
Are there Australian funnel-web spiders in the US?
The funnelweb spiders that produce dangerous venom are native to Australia and do not live in the U.S. They prefer to avoid humans but may bite if threatened.
How aggressive are Sydney funnel web spiders?
The Sydney Funnel Web Spider is not aggressive by nature, but will show aggression if threatened . Sydney Funnel Web Spiders reside in moist (sandy clay, shale or basaltic soils) sheltered burrows in the ground, under rocks or logs, or in stumps, and tree trunks.
Is the Sydney funnel-web spider the deadliest spider?
What is so dangerous about the Sydney funnel-web spider? – Quora. I’m glad you asked! This one is known as the word’s deadliest spider , yet some would also argue that it’s the Brazilian Wandering Spider. However, there are a few key things that make this one close to the worst.
Hobo Spider
At one point, it was thought the hobo spider (Eratigena agrestis), a funnel weaver, was a medically important spider. However current research, observations and medical literature do not support this prior thinking. Further evidence is provided by the fact the hobo spider is often the most common spider found in homes within Europe, where it also is considered harmless to humans.
Prevention Tips
Here are some funnelweb spider prevention tips:
Make sure the insects that serve as food for spiders are kept to a minimum.
Seal all holes, cracks and gaps in the home’s doors, windows and foundation to prevent entrance.
Remove ground litter that serves as harborage.
Funnel-web spider, (family Dipluridae), member of a family of spiders in the order Araneida that are named for their funnel-shaped webs. Their webs open wide at the mouth of the tube, and the spider sits in the narrow funnel waiting for prey to contact the web. When this happens, the spider rushes out and captures the insect prey at the funnel’s mouth. The most important genera are Euagrus, Brachythele, and Microhexura in North America, Trechona in South America, and the venomous members of the Atrax genus in Australia.
Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus)Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus).The species Atrax robustus and A. formidabilis are large brown bulky spiders that are much feared in southern and eastern Australia because of their venomous bites. Several human deaths from the bites of these aggressive spiders have been recorded in the Sydney area since the 1920s. An antidote to the main toxin in their venom has been developed and is effective if administered to victims soon after they have been bitten.
Appearance
As there are many species of funnel weaver spiders found in the United States, the range of appearances of this family of spiders varies a great deal.
Length : Generally these spiders range in body size (not including the span of their legs) from about 1/5 of an inch to about 3/4 of an inch.
Color : Coloration is generally brownish or grayish and their legs and other body parts are hairy and often have bands and markings that are darker in color.
Body : Some of the most commonly seen funnel weaver spiders have a long, tail-like structure that extends from the rear end of the body. This structure is used for spinning their webs.
Webs : Other than their physical appearance, funnel weaver spiders can be identified by the appearance of their webs. These webs are distinctive and generally have a horizontal, flat surface for capturing prey, plus a small funnel shaped tube that leads to a silk burrow that functions as a protective hiding place.
Diet
Sources of food are primarily insects, although some funnel weavers may cannibalize their own species. Spider experts think this could simply involve the fact that since these spiders are often in such close proximity to each other they may wander onto each others’ webs becoming accidental victims.
When prey fall onto the horizontal web, the funnelweb spider quickly moves out of the “funnel,” grabs its prey and then carries it back to the “funnel” to eat its meal. When disturbed, these spiders typically run in a quick, darting manner.
Geographic Range
Various species of funnel weavers can be found throughout North America, including remote areas such as Alaska and Hawaii.
Habitat
The spiders can be found in man-made structures like barns and sheds, which may be inhabited with prey. Sometimes, funnel weavers are found in cluttered basements and crawlspaces inhabited with small crawling insect prey.
Reproduction
Males
As soon as males reach sexual maturity, they begin wandering the environment in search of mates. After finding a female and mating several times, a male funnel weaver soon dies off.
Females
Females remain by their webs their entire lives and only tend to leave to find new locations to build webs. Not known to seek out mates, female funnel weavers wait for wandering males to find them.
Most of the female’s time is spent capturing or feeding on prey in order to build the strength necessary for mating and egg production. After producing eggs and hiding the egg sac in a crevice, the female dies.
Funnel Weavers vs. Australian Funnelweb Spiders
The funnel weaver spiders in the family Agelenidae, which are found in the United States, are often confused with funnelweb spiders that are found in Australia. The important differences between the two are:
The United States funnel weaver spiders are not considered medically important to people.
The funnelweb spider, commonly referred to as the Sydney funnelweb spider is found in Australia. It is a serious medically important spider.
The medically important Sydney funnelweb spiders (
Atrax robustus) are in the spider family
Hexathelidae, are not naturally found in the United States and are not related to our
Agelenidae funnel weaver spiders.
Funnel-web spiders, the most notorious members of our spider fauna, are found in eastern Australia.
There are 36 described species of Australian funnel-web spiders and they are currently placed in three genera: Hadronyche, Atrax and Illawarra. They are medium to large spiders, varying from 1 cm-5 cm body length. Males are more lightly built than females. Body colour can vary from black to brown but the hard carapace covering the front part of the body is always sparsely haired and glossy. The lateral pair of spinning organs (spinnerets) at the end of the abdomen are longer and easily visible in Atrax spp. but often shorter in Hadronyche spp and Illawarra.
Not all species are known to be dangerous, but several are renowned for their highly toxic and fast acting venom. The male of Atrax robustus, the Sydney Funnel-web Spider, is probably responsible for all recorded deaths (13) and many medically serious bites. This remarkable spider has become a part of Sydney’s folklore and, although no deaths have been recorded since the introduction of an antivenom in 1981, it remains an icon of fear and fascination for Sydneysiders.
Identifying funnel-web spiders
Shiny carapace
Deeply curved groove (fovea)
No obvious body pattern
Eyes closely grouped
Four spinnerets, largest with last segment longer than wide
Lower lip (labium) studded with short, blunt spines
Modified male second leg (a male trapdoor spider has the first leg modified.)
Male second leg: an obvious, conical projection or ‘spur’ on the lower side of the middle segment (tibia) of the second leg (about halfway along) is characteristic of the genus Atrax, exemplified by the Sydney Funnel-web Spider, Atrax robustus. Males of all other funnel-web species either have a blunt, spine-covered tibial swelling, or a few spines only, on the second leg. Note also the mating organ on the male palp.
Where Australian funnel-web spiders live
Funnel-web spiders live in the moist forest regions of the east coast and highlands of Australia from Tasmania to north Queensland. They are also found in the drier open forests of the Western Slopes of the Great Dividing Range and South Australia’s Gulf region. Funnel-webs of the genus Atrax have a much smaller distribution than do the more diverse members of the genus Hadronyche. The Sydney Funnel-web Spider, Atrax robustus, is found from Newcastle to Nowra and west as far as Lithgow in New South Wales.
Funnel-web spider antivenom
An antivenom for the Sydney Funnel-web Spider was first developed for clinical use in 1981 by Dr Struan Sutherland and his team at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. No deaths have occurred since its introduction. At the same time Sutherland experimentally established the effectiveness of the compression/immobilisation first aid technique for funnel-web bite. Much of the venom for this research was supplied through a funnel-web venom milking program at the Australian Reptile Park near Gosford, NSW. This antivenom has also been effective against other dangerous funnel-web spider species. As well, it has been successfully used in cases of mouse spider envenomation. Antivenom is held at major city and regional hospitals.
Funnel-web spider FAQs
Can funnel-webs jump?
Despite some popular beliefs , funnel-webs can’ t jump. However they can move quickly, and they will rear up when feeling threatened and make sudden lunges when striking. Householders have been surprised by the agility of male funnel-webs, and their sometimes quick escapes from smooth-sided containers (e.g. when the tips of their long legs are able to reach the rim!)
Can funnel-webs swim?
Wandering funnel-webs spiders often fall into backyard swimming pools and they can stay alive for at least 30 hours underwater. They can’t swim but they can trap a small bubble of air in hairs around the abdomen, which aids both breathing and floating. As they gradually get waterlogged, their buoyancy decreases and they sink. Eventually they drown but this is a slow process. It should not be assumed that a non-moving spider at the bottom of a pool is dead as they often recover.
Arachnophobes may want to turn away: The largest-ever male specimen of a Sydney funnel-web spider—the world’s most venomous arachnid species—has been discovered on Australia’s Central Coast, about 50 miles north of Sydney.
Known for their large fangs and piercing bites, funnel web spiders typically range in size from one to five centimeters, with females often growing larger than males. The newest record-holder, aptly named “Hercules,” clocks in at a whopping 7.9 centimeters from foot to foot, taking the title away from “Colossus,” a male found in 2018 that measured seven centimeters long.
Deadly male funnel-web spider ‘Hercules’ breaks record as biggest ever discovered
The largest male specimen yet of the most venomous spider in the world has been found in Australia.”Hercules,” a funnel-web spider, is 3.1 inches (7.9 centimeters) from hairy foot to hairy foot, according to the Associated Press — about the same diameter as an Olympic gold medal.
The spider was found about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Sydney and taken to a local hospital. The hospital turned the giant arachnid over to the Australian Reptile Park, a zoo in New South Wales that runs a venom-milking program. Venom from spiders and snakes is used to produce antivenom for Australian hospitals.
”Male funnel-webs, once they reach maturity, their natural lifespan is only around one year,” Emma Teni, a spider-keeper at the park, said in a video provided by the AP. “So we need to constantly have them handed in by the general public, because we need them for our lifesaving antivenom program.”The male Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus) has one of the most toxic-to-humans venoms of any spider, according to the Australian Museum. Male spider venom contains a neurotoxin that affects the nervous systems of primates, including humans. Females are also venomous, but their venom does not contain this neurotoxin, according to the museum. Only male bites have caused human deaths.
Since the Australian Reptile Park launched its spider antivenom program in 1981, no one has died from funnel-web spider bites, according to the park. Every week, park staff use glass pipettes to urge spiders to bite so they can suck up droplets of venom. The venom is then frozen and used by supplier CSL Seqirus to make antivenom that can be given to patients who have been bitten.Funnel-web spiders are burrowers. They get their names from the networks of “trip wires” they spin at the entrances to their burrows, which are often shaped like a funnel of silk, according to the Australian Museum. They like moist, vegetated areas and are often found in the forested Sydney suburbs. Humans are probably most likely to encounter deadly male spiders, which leave their burrows in the summer months to look for mates.Hercules is bigger than the Australian Reptile Park’s previous record-holding male funnel-web, a specimen nicknamed Colossus who lived at the park in 2018.
Funnel-web Spider
Calilena arizonica, Hololena hola, Novalena lutzi
Family: Agelenidae
Spanish name: zacatera
Description
The funnel-web spider is similar in appearance to the wolf spider, but it is smaller and more delicate, with a body length of about ¼ inch (12 mm). It builds a sheet-like web with a distinct funnel shape leading to a retreat. Because these webs are often built in grasses, a common name for these arachnids is “grass spider.”
Distribution and Habitat
Funnel-web spiders live world-wide; these three species are common in southern Arizona. They build webs in grass or leaf litter, on stones, or in the corners of buildings.
Ecology
These spiders use their webs to catch prey. The sheet of the web acts as a catch basin for insects that blunder onto it, becoming stuck in the sticky silk. The spider, sensing the vibrations in the web, goes out to retrieve its meal. If the prey item is small enough, the spider will cut it out of the web and bring it down into its retreat to feed on.
Life History
Funnel-web spiders are active from March through October. A male spider must communicate to the female via stridulations and web stroking. Once the female accepts him onto her web, mating takes place. The female lays 100 to 200 eggs in an egg case. She weaves the egg case into her web, near or within her funnel retreat. After about a month the eggs hatch and the young disperse, often by ballooning.
Monstrous funnel-web spider ‘Herculese’ breaks record in Australia
The largest male specimen of the world’s most poisonous arachnid has been found by a member of the public in Australia.
The deadly Sydneyfunnel-web spider, dubbed Hercules, was found on the Central Coast, about 50 miles north of Sydney, and initially given to a local hospital.
Experts from Australian Reptile Park retrieved it and soon realised the eight-legged creature, which has fangs that could pierce a human fingernail, is the largest received from the public in Australia.
Hercules measures 7.9cm (3.1 inches) from foot to foot, surpassing the park’s previous record-holder from 2018, the male funnel-web named Colossus.
Sydney funnel-web spiders usually range in length from one to five centimetres, with females being generally larger than their male counterparts but not as deadly.
