Spider species

The majority of spiders cannot harm anyone. They are unpleasant to look at and their webs can cause a mess. From White Tailed Spider to Common House Spider, we can give you more information about these creatures to help you get over your fears. 

Avondale spider

Delena cancerides walckenaer

Appearance

• Large spider, body length 30 mm, leg span up to 200 mm

Lifecycle

• Eats moths and flies 
• An active hunter 
• Uses webbing only in association with egg sac and as a dragline for safety

Habits

• They are nocturnal and like to hide during the day in dark, dry places.
• In their natural habitat, which is under loose-fitting bark of wattle trees, they live in large colonies. 
• Around houses they hide in attics, under corrugated iron, behind pictures and bookcases, and in sheds and garages.

Banded tunnelweb spider

Hexathele hochstetteri ausserer

Appearance

• Large, bulky spider. Body length 25 mm.

Habits

• Forms a silk–lined tunnel usually under the loose bark of fallen trees. 
• Threads of silk extend from the entrance of the tunnel to act as triplines. 
• Captures insects that knock into the triplines. 
• Eats any insects, including large ground beetles.

Black headed jumping spider

Trite planiceps simon

Appearance

Small spiders, body length about 10 mm

Habits

• Active hunting spiders with good eyesight, they pounce on prey from a few centimetres away 
• Uses silk as a dragline when hunting 
• Harmless to humans

Daddy Long Legs Spider

Pholcus phalangioides

Appearance

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

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.

Golden orbweb spider

Nephila edulis (Koch)

Appearance

• Large spider, body length of female 24 mm

Habits

• Forms a very large web, up to two metres in diameter, attached to buildings, shrubs, or between trees 
• Silk strands of web are golden in colour 
• Catches any large flying insects 
• Eggsac is also bound in golden silk

Katipo spider

Latrodectus katipo (Powell))

Appearance

• Small to medium–sized spider. Body length about 8 mm

Habits

• Found only near the seashore, under drift wood or associated with coastal grasses 
• Makes a small sticky web to snare beetles and other crawling insects 
• Bite is poisonous. Antidote is available at hospitals

NurseryWeb spider

Dolomedes minor (Koch)

Appearance

• Medium to large–sized spider. Body length about 18 mm

Habits

• Builds a web on shrubs to protect its young 
• The female sits on the web to guard the nursery at night 
• During the day she stays nearby until the young disperse 
• Catches prey on the run

SheetWeb spider

Cambridgea spp

Appearance

Large spider. Body length about 25 mm

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.

Slater spider

Dysdera crocata (Koch)

Appearance

Medium–sized spider. Body length about 14 mm

Habits

• Found in gardens, especially bark gardens, usually near the ground 
• Unusual orange–brown coloring 
• Eats slaters and maybe other slow moving arthropods 
• Web is used only as a retreat 
• Painful bite

Vagrant spider

Uliodon

Appearance

Medium to large spider. Body length 20 mm

Habits

• A forest spider, found in gardens near bush areas 
• Under logs or stones in the daytime 
• An active nocturnal hunter 
• Builds a web as a retreat for use in the daytime and when moulting 
• Webbing also used to bind the eggsac 
• Eats ground dwelling invertebrates

White-tailed spider

Lampona cylindrata

Appearance

• They are generally dark red or grey with dark orange banded legs. 
• Younger spiders can bear two pairs of faint white spots with a white spot at the tip. 
• Males can grow up to 12mm and females up to 18mm.

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 the females guard their eggs until they hatch.

Habits

• Commonly found underneath bark, rocks, leaf litter and logs in the bush and around the home and garden. 
• They eat other spiders including daddy-long-legs, redbacks and black house spiders, and as such are most active at night when their prey is out hunting. 
• They move indoors during summer and autumn where they look for shelter in nooks and crannies, searching for prey.

Grey house spider

Badumna longinqua (Koch)

Appearance

• Medium–sized spider. Body length about 15 mm

Habits

• Untidy webs often found inside and on the outside of houses. 
• Also on car mirrors Hides in a retreat at the base of the web till an insect is caught in the web 
• Eats anything caught in the web, – blowflies, houseflies and moths

Wolf Spider

Trochosa ruricola

Appearance

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

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.