Spider species

Australia is home to a diverse range of spider species, many unique to our environment. Whether spotting a spider in your garden, home, or out in nature, knowing how to identify common Australian spiders can help you understand which species are harmless and which require caution. This guide covers some of the most frequently encountered spiders across Australia, highlighting their key features, behaviours, and habitats to make identification easier and more reliable.

Common spiders found in Australia

• White-Tailed Spider
• Black House Spider
• Common House Spider
• Daddy Long Legs Spider
• Funnel Web Spider
• Garden Orb-Weaving Spider

• Harvestman Spider
• Huntsman Spider
• Mouse Spider
• Red Headed Mouse Spider
• Redback Spider
• Scorpions (1100 Species)

• St Andrews Cross Spider
• Tarantulas
• Trap Door Spider
• Tree Funnel Web Spider
• Wolf Spider

The majority of spiders cannot harm anyone. They are unpleasant to look at, and their webs can cause a mess. We can give you more information about these creatures, from the Tarantula to the Common House Spider, to help you overcome your fears.

White-Tailed Spider

Lampona cylindrata

Also known as the White Tip Spider

Identification

• White-tailed spiders are generally dark red or grey with dark orange banded legs. 
• Younger spiders often have two pairs of faint white spots plus a white spot at the tip of the abdomen.
• Males grow up to 12mm, while females can reach 18mm.

Life cycle and habits of the White-Tailed Spider

Lifecycle

• White-tailed spiders lay eggs in a disc-shaped egg sac, containing up to 90 eggs. 
• They lay these sacs in dark and sheltered places where the females guard their eggs until they hatch.

Habits

• White-tailed spiders are commonly found under bark, rocks, leaf litter, and logs in bushland and around homes and gardens.
• White-tailed spiders prey on other spiders, including daddy long legs, redbacks, and black house spiders, making them most active at night when their prey is hunting.
• During summer and autumn, they often move indoors, seeking shelter in nooks and crannies while hunting for prey.

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Black House Spiders (black spider)

Badumna insignis

Identification

• The black house spider is a robust species measuring 1 to 1.5 cm in body length. 
• Its carapace and legs are dark brown to black, while the abdomen is charcoal grey. The white dorsal markings are sometimes faint or indistinct.

Life cycle and habits of the Black House Spiders (black spider)

Lifecycle

• The female constructs several white silk eggs sacs, which are secured within the web retreat. The female stays with the eggs until they hatch. The spider lings then disperse.
• The spiders mature during the summertime and live for about two years.

Habits

• Black house spiders create untidy, lacy sheet webs with funnel-like entrances. You’ll often find their webs on tree trunks, logs, rock walls, and buildings, including window frames and crevices. They are common in urban areas and frequently build webs in dark corners of verandas, sheds, and fences.
• The female rarely leaves her web unless disturbed and continuously repairs it. Over time, the webs may appear grey and woolly due to constant silk additions.
• While black house spiders are venomous, their bites are not fatal and usually cause mild reactions.

Brown House Spider (cupboard spider)

Family Diaspidae

Identification

• Adult brown house spiders have a body length of about 6 to 9 mm (excluding legs). 
• Their body is yellow-brown with faint markings, while the abdomen is pale grey-brown and covered with short hairs.

Life cycle and habits of the Brown House Spider (cupboard spider)

Lifecycle

• Female brown house spiders produce spherical egg sacs covered in silk, which they place within their web structure. 
• Males may mate several times before dying. 
• Adults can live for several years under favourable conditions.

Habits

• Brown house spiders are commonly found in buildings, sheds, and walls. 
• They construct sheet-like webs in quiet, undisturbed areas such as cupboards, hence their common name. 
• These webs serve both as a retreat and as a hunting ground for their prey.

Daddy Long Legs Spider

Pholcus phalangioides

Identification

• 7-9mm long
• Characterised by having very long legs

Life cycle and habits of the Daddy Long Legs Spider

Lifecycle

• The female lays eggs, and may sometimes hold her eggs in her palps (short, leg like structures attached to the front of the cephalothorax, between the fangs and the first pair of legs)

Habits

• The spin a loose web in sheltered areas, often in and around human habitation including houses, garages and sheds.
• Apart from the nuisance of their webs, they do no harm and are non-toxic.
• They are common in urban areas.
• They feed on insects and other spiders.

Funnel Web Spider (Sydney funnel web spider)

Hadronyche cerberea

Identification

• A large, bulky spider, with females reaching over 35mm in body length and males around 25mm
• The head region is characteristically glossy black, while the abdomen is dark brown or purplish in colour. The body and legs are covered with fine hairs

Life cycle and habits of the Funnel Web Spider (Sydney funnel web spider)

Lifecycle

• Males reach sexual maturity at four years of age, females a year later.
• The female produces an egg sac containing a hundred or so eggs and stores this in her burrow until the spiderlings hatch.
• Males usually die some 6-8 months after reaching maturity, while females may continue to breed for several more years.
• Males usually die after mating.

Habits

• Their main diet consists of insects, although items as large as frogs and lizards may also be taken
• Funnel Web bites may be fatal to humans

Learn more about the dangers and treatment of funnel-web spider bites in our detailed guide here.

Garden Orb-Weaving Spider (Garden Orb Weavers)

Eriophora spp.

Identification

• The commonly seen Garden Orb Weavers are 1-2.5cm in length. Most are stout , reddish – brown or grey spiders with a leaf shaped pattern on their triangular abdomens.

Life cycle and habits of the Garden Orb-Weaving Spider (Garden Orb Weavers)

Lifecycle

• The female Orb Weaver lays her eggs in late summer to autumn. The eggs are encased in a fluffy cocoon and attached to foliage.
• During autumn, the spiderlings disperse by ballooning (floating on the breeze using small silk strands as “balloons”), and build their own tiny orb webs among vegetation.
• The lifespan is about twelve is about twelve months. They mature in summer, mate, lay their eggs, and die in late summer-autumn.

Habits

• Make suspended, sticky, wheel – shaped orb webs.
• Hides on foliage during day and constructs web at night.
• Not aggressive.
• Flying insects such as flies, beetles and bugs (including large prey like cicadas) are common prey.
• Orb Weavers are reluctant to bite humans. Symptoms are usually negligible or mid local pain, numbness and swelling.

Harvestman Spider

Phalangium opilio

Identification

• Adult – 1/8"– 3/8" body. The upper body surface has light grey/brown pattern, the lower surface is typically cream.

Life cycle and habits of the Harvestman Spider

Lifecycle

• The females lay eggs in moist soil.
• The eggs survive through winter and hatch in the spring.
• Only one batch of eggs is laid each year.

Habits

• They climb tree trunks or look for food on the ground.
• They feed on many soft bodied arthropods, including aphids, caterpillars, beetle larvae, and small slugs.

Huntsman Spider

Delena spp., Holconia spp., Neosparassus sp., Olios spp.

Identification

• Come in a variety of colours and patterns but are mostly brown, black and grey (there are over 100 species of Huntsman spiders in Australia).
• Some species are very large reaching over 160mm in leg span.
• The two back pairs of legs are shorter than the ones at the front and the legs fan out sideways enabling them to walk forwards and sideways often giving them a crab-like appearance.

Life cycle and habits of the Huntsman Spider

Lifecycle

• The female Huntsman produces a flat, oval egg sac of whte papery silk and lays up to 200 eggs. She then places it under bark or a rock and stand guard over it, without eating, for about three weeks.
• The appropriate time, the mother spider opens the egg sac to help her spiderlings out and she may stay with her spiderlings for several weeks.
• The lifespan of most Huntsman species is about two years or more.

Habits

• Huntsman spiders occur Australia-wide and are usually found on tree trunks, under bank, beneath stones or on the walls of houses. Some species are extremely compressed and live between the hairline cracks of sandstone and granite outcrops.
• The huntsman eats a variety of insects, arthropods, small lizards and frogs. The prey is not captured in a web but actively stalked and run-down with stealth and speed.
• Poisonous to humans but not fatal.

Mouse Spider

Missulena occatoria

Identification

• Mouse spiders are closely related to trapdoor and funnel web spiders but can be distinguished by their pronounced compact, squat and huge fang sheaths at the front of the head area.
• Most species are dark brown or black in colour.
• The body size reaches around 35mm, with the male being distinctly smaller and less robust.

Life cycle and habits of the Mouse Spider

Lifecycle

• Male mouse spiders search for a mate once they reach maturity at around four years of age. Mating takes place in the female’s burrow, after which the male dies.
• The female lays 60 or more eggs within an egg sac that she places into a brood chamber off the main shaft of her burrow. The spiderlings hatch from the egg sac over summer and remain with the mother into autumn when dispersal occurs.

Habits

• Mouse spiders live in oval burrows up to a metre in length, often constructed in the banks of water courses. The females’s burrow usually has a hinged lid and is branched ‘Y’ shape. These spiders are common but are very secretive and rarely seen. Heavy rain often forces them out of their burrows and this is when they may be encountered.
• The extremely large and robust fangs enable mouse spiders to overpower quite large food items. Even the thickest beetle shell is no match for these efficient weapons.
• The venom is very toxic and, although no human deaths have ever been recorded, a bite from a mouse spider should be considered potentially life threatening and medical attention should be sought immediately.

Red Headed Mouse Spider

Missulena insignis

Identification

• The forepart of the cephalothorax of the male is red. The rest of the body is either dark brown or black in colour.
• Mouse spiders are closely related to trapdoor and funnel-web spiders but can be distinguished by their pronounced compact, squat shape and huge fang sheaths at the front of the head area.
• The body size reaches around 35mm, with the male being distinctly smaller and less robust.

Life cycle and habits of the Red Headed Mouse Spider

Lifecycle

• Male mouse spiders search for mate once they reach maturity at around four years of age. Mating takes place in the female’s burrow, after which the male dies.
• The female lays 60 or more eggs within an egg sac that she places into a brood chamber off the main shaft of her burrow.
• The spiderlings of the Red-headed Mouse Spider disperse by ballooning, a technique that is rare in mygalomorphs (the Mouse Spider Family).

Habits

• Mouse spiders live in oval burrows up to a metre in length, often constructed in the banks of water courses. The female’s burrow usually has a hinged lid and is branched “Y” shape. These spiders are common but are very secretive and rarely seen. Heavy rain often forces them out of their burrows and this is when they may be encountered.
• The extremely large and robust fangs enable mouse spiders to overpower quite large food items. Even the thickest beetle shell is no match of these efficient weapons.
• The venom is very toxic and, although no human deaths have been recorded, a bite from a mouse spider should be considered potentially life threatening and medical attention should be sought immediately.

Redback Spider (Red-back Spider)

Latrodectus hasseltii

Identification

• The female red-back is black with a distinctive red or orange marking on its back, although this may sometimes be absent. These markings may be broken into spots in front and, sometimes, this white lines may be visible.
• The female can grow up to 15mm long. Males are very small and usually only grow up to 5mm long.
• The male has more complex markings than those of the female, incorporating white and sometimes yellow markings.

Life cycle and habits of the Redback Spider (Red-back Spider)

Lifecycle

• Female red-backs take about 2-3 months to mature and can lay 3-8 egg sacs between September and May. Each sac can contain up to 300 eggs. However, most of the hatchlings do not survive because they are eaten by their siblings and are very prone to wasp parasitism.
• Females may live for two to three years, whereas males only live for about six or seven months.

Habits

• Commonly found in logs or under rocks in the bush as they tend to reside in dark, dry areas. In suburban regions, the re-back has been known to live under roof eaves, floorboards, shelves, flower pots or in garden sheds.
• The web is a triangle of dry silk. The trap lines are sticky to assist with catching their prey.
• Redback spiders are carnivorous eating almost any small insects that are caught in their webs. They will also eat skinks and even juvenile mice, snakes and frogs.

Scorpions (1100 Spider Species)

Identification

• Adult -1/2" – 8". Colour varies with species, from yellow to black. Easily distinguished by their pincers and a long, segmented tail bearing a stinger.

Life cycle and habits of the Scorpions (1100 Spider Species)

Lifecycle

• Scorpions have a long gestation period (from 2-18 months). Each female bears 25-35 young which climb onto to the mothers back. 
• They remain on her back for a week or two after birth. Once they climb down they are independent, and take two to six years to reach maturity. 
• The average scorpion lives three to five years, but some species can live up to 10-15 years.

Habits

• Most scorpions are nocturnal. 
• As well as in hot, dry areas, scorpions are found in grasslands, savannahs, caves and deciduous / mountain pine / rain forests. 
• Scorpion venoms affect the victim’s nervous system. Each species has a unique mixture.

St Andrew’s Cross Spider

Argiope spp.

Identification

• This St Andrews Cross spider has a body length of 1-1.5cm and has bands across its abdomen.
• It is famous for its zig-zag ribbons that form a full or partial cross through the centre of the web.

Life cycle and habits of the St Andrew’s Cross Spider

Lifecycle

• The female suspends its pear-shaped egg sac in a network of threads, often among leaves where the sac’s greenish silk disguises it.
• The lifespan is about twelve months.

Habits

• The St Andrews Cross spiders use thick zigzag bands of silk in their webs that may attract insect prey by reflecting ultra violet light.
• They make suspended, sticky, wheel – shaped orb webs. Webs are placed in low shrubby vegetation.
• Their prey includes flies, moths, butterflies, bugs, and bees. These are usually secured by silk wrapping into a neat parcel before being bitten.
• This spider is not considered to be harmful to humans.

Tarantulas (Australian Tarantula)

Genus Aphonopelma

Identification

• Adult body length excluding legs – 1"- 5". Most tarantulas have black or brown hairy bodies and legs but some species exhibit striking colours.

Life cycle and habits of the Tarantulas (Australian Tarantula)

Lifecycle

• Mating season is in autumn. Incubation of the young takes 6-9 weeks, with each female producing 500-1000 eggs into a silken cocoon. The young leave their burrow after 2-3 weeks.
• Life span 25-40 years.

Habits

• There are 60+ genii and 800+ species of tarantula.
• Tarantulas prefer to live in dry, well-drained soil where they dig a burrow which is lined with silk webbing.

Trapdoor Spider

Misgolas rapax

Identification

• Often confused with the Funnel Web spiders the brown trapdoor can be distinguished by its chocolate brown coloration, less robust body and the presence of distinct boxing glove-shaped palps in the males (these are the appendages at the front of the head between the first pair of legs).
• The body and legs are covered in tiny hairs.
• The female is around 35mm in length, while the male is usually around 20mm and of a slimmer body.

Life cycle and habits of the Trapdoor Spider

Lifecycle

• Male trapdoor spiders leave their burrows in search of a mate during humid weather. The male dies shortly after mating with the female
• The eggs are kept in a cocoon
• After hatching the spiderlings stay in the burrow for some time and eventually emerge to disperse and fend for themselves

Habits

• Trapdoor spiders dig a burrow in the ground that is lined with silk, though, despite their common name, this species does not construct a lid. They use these burrows to raise their young and for protection. Burrows may reach 250mm in depth and around 25mm in width. Some of the trapdoor spiders dig simple, tube-like burrows, while others excavate additional side tunnels for extra hiding places.
• Trapdoor spiders eat a variety of insects and other arthropods. The spider waits inside the burrow
• Bites are not fatal to humans, but local pain and swelling may occur

Tree Funnel Web Spider

Hadronyche cerberea

Identification

• A large, bulky spider, with females reaching over 35mm in body length and males around 25mm. 
• The head region is characteristically glossy black, while the abdomen is dark brown or purplish in colour. The body and legs are covered with fine hairs.

Life cycle and habits of the Tree Funnel Web Spider

Lifecycle

• Males reach sexual maturity at four years of age, females a year later. 
• The female produces an egg sac containing a hundred or so eggs and stores this in her burrow until the spiderlings hatch. 
• Males usually die some 6-8 months after reaching maturity, while females may continue to breed for several more years. 
• Males usually die after mating.

Habits

• The habits of Tree Funnel Web spiders are similar to the Funnel Web (see Funnel Web spider) but it lives predominantly in trees. 
• Their main diet consists of insects, although items as large as frogs and lizards may also be taken. 
• Funnel Web bites may be fatal to humans.

Wolf Spider

Trochosa ruricola

Identification

• Adult female: 5/16"; male - 1/4". They are generally brown to grey in colour.

Life cycle and habits of the Wolf Spider

Lifecycle

• Wolf spider mothers carry their egg sacs around with them attached to spinnerets under the abdomen.
• When the young spiderlings hatch, they climb onto their mother's back where they live for the first few weeks of life.

Habits

• They hunt at night but spend the day hidden amongst moss and decaying matter. 
• They live in a shallow burrow, with an open and unadorned entrance.

Australia’s spider species are as diverse as they are fascinating. By understanding how to identify common spiders and recognising their behaviours and habitats, you can better appreciate these creatures and stay safe around them. While most spiders pose little threat, knowing when to be cautious is important. If you suspect a spider infestation or need expert help managing spiders in your home or business, our professional spider control team is ready to assist with effective, tailored solutions.