I looked at my spider chart but I couldn't work out what it was. After some research on the net, I soon found out to my horror that my new little house guest was in fact a Blue Mountains Funnel Web Spider - one of the most deadest spiders in the world, apparently. Lucky me....
We had just had a few days of rain. It must have been washed out of its hole or rock and gone walkabout looking for some lady spiders, and got itself stuck in another spider's web. What had me puzzled to what sort of spider it was, was the fact that it was a lot smaller than what I thought a Funnel Web would be. This male is only 18mm long - the Sydney Funnel Web spiders are a lot bigger, and I only ever see them in museums.
This little beastie was found only about 5 metres away in the backyard where my 4 year old son plays.
Here are some useful links to information about Australian spiders - definitely not for arachniphobics!
http://www.questacon.com.au/html/assets/pdf/ea_sitting_target.pdf
http://www.termite.com.au/spider-identification.html
6 comments:
we get them sometimes when it rains. no matter how small they are, they still give a deadly bite. not a spider fan
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal! Yuck, yuck, yuck!! I hate all spiders. I know they do the world of good, BUT.... [UGH]
Yowza. When I lived in New Mexico I would find little scorpions in the house (or actually, the cats would find them, I would freak out and capture them). Not deadly, but still can do some damage. Blech!
I grew up in a bushy part of Sydney - have early memories of funnel webs 'dancing' along my step-dad's bookcase. I've heard about them being up here but thankfully haven't unearthed any yet....horrible (especially with little ones around). A friend in Katoomba rang a organic pest bloke about them and he recommended ducks! Apparently they eat them - with no side effects. And ducks are soo lovely...if only we had more space...
PS it's especially creepy seeing those pics right opposite that little hand with the rainbow on it!
heebs!!
for some reason, every time i look at a photo of a spider, my arm hair spontaneously twitches and tickles so i think something is crawling on my arm. why is that?!??
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