Spider field guide

Tips for submitting spider sightings: 

Photos from various angles are sometimes necessary for specific ID.

• front (eye arrangement, pedipalp colour)
• dorsal (above - general colouration, carapace and abdomen patterns)
• ventral (underneath - especially useful for some of the ground-dwelling families and orb-weaving families)
• side (further details for general shape, abdomen patterns and eye configuration)
• back (further details for abdomen pattern).

Comments or photos on the following also provides valuable information if/when such features are applicable and observed...

• surroundings and location (eg. ground, leaf litter, hand rail, tree trunk)
• web structure and silk use (eg. orb, messy & tangled, throwing silk)
• breeding (eg. display, egg sac)
• behaviour (eg. hunting, interaction, familiarity with people such as the threatening display of a huntsman or the friendly and curious jumping spiders that jump onto the camera lens)
• notable, unique, exciting or strange observations (eg. spur-like protrusions from legs, camouflage, mimicry)

Please note that the size of the spider is measured by body length.

• body size is from the top of the cephalothorax (head) to the tip of the abdomen without including the legs.

(Updated: October, 2022. Please feel free to message a spider moderator if you have any queries or suggestions for improvement)

Resources: 

• Field guide: A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia authored by Robert Whyte & Greg Anderson

• A good introduction: http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/allies/araneae.html

• All about Australian spiders: http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2409

Spiders

52 species

Apricia jovialis (Jovial jumping spider)

Above

Side

Front

Arachnura higginsi (Scorpion-tailed Spider)

Araneidae (family) (Orb weaver)

Araneus hamiltoni (Hamilton's Orb Weaver)

Arbanitis sp. (genus) (An armoured trapdoor spider)

Argiope keyserlingi (St Andrew's Cross Spider)

Argiope trifasciata (Banded orb weaver)

female

female underside

male and female in web

Arkys lancearius (Triangular Spider)

Arkys walckenaeri (Triangle spider)

Dorsal

Colour variation

Front

Asianopis subrufa (Rufous net-casting spider)

Atrax sp. (genus) (Funnel-web spider)

Austracantha minax (Christmas Spider, Jewel Spider)

FEMALE

EGG SACK

MALE

Backobourkia sp. (genus) (An orb weaver)

Clubiona sp. (genus) (Unidentified Stout Sac Spider)

Delena cancerides (Social huntsman spider)

Dolomedes sp. (genus) (Fishing spider)

Dolophones sp. (genus) (Wrap-around spider)

Hadronyche sp. (genus) (A funnel web)

Helpis minitabunda (Threatening jumping spider)

Male

Female

Web

Holconia insignis (Branded huntsman)

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