Sydney Funnel-web Spider

The Sydney funnel-web is medium to large in size, with body length ranging from 1 to 5 cm (0.4 to 2 in). Both sexes are glossy and darkly coloured, ranging from blue-black, to black, to brown or dark-plum coloured. The carapace covering the cephalothorax is almost hairless and appears smooth and glossy. Another characteristic is finger-like spinnerets at the end of their abdomen. The shorter-lived male is smaller than the female, but longer-legged. The average leg length for the spider, in general, is six to seven centimetres.

Distribution is centred on Sydney, extending north to the Central Coast and south to the Illawarra region, and west to the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. The spider can be found in moist microhabitats, including under logs and foliage. Sydney funnel-web spiders are mostly terrestrial spiders, favouring habitats with moist sand and clays.

They typically build silk-lined tubular burrow retreats with collapsed "tunnels" or open "funnel" entrances from which irregular trip-lines radiate over the ground. In some exceptions, which lack trip-lines but may have trapdoors, the silk entrance tube may be split into two openings, in a Y or T form. The spiders burrow in sheltered habitats where they can find a moist and humid climate; for instance under rocks, logs or borer holes in rough-barked trees. The long-lived female funnel-web spend most of the time in their silk-lined tubular burrow retreats. When potential prey, which includes insects (such as beetles and cockroaches) and their larvae, land snails, millipedes, lizards or frogs, walks across the trip-lines, they rush out, subduing their prey by injecting their venom. Males, recognised by the modified terminal segment of the palp, tend to wander during the warmer months of the year, looking for receptive females to mate with. This makes encounters with male specimens more likely as they sometimes wander into backyards or houses, or fall into swimming pools. The spiders can survive such immersion for up to twenty-four hours, trapping air bubbles on hairs around their abdomen. Sydney funnel-web spiders are mainly active at night, as typical day-time conditions would dehydrate them. During the day, they seek cover in cool, moist hideaways. …