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

Pholcus phalangioides (Daddy-long-legs spider)

Phonognatha graeffei (Leaf Curling Spider)

Portacosa cinerea (Grey wolf spider)

Sidymella hirsuta (Hairy crab spider)

Sidymella trapezia (Trapezoid Crab Spider)

Socca pustulosa (Knobbled Orbweaver)

Sparassidae (family) (A Huntsman Spider)

Stanwellia sp. (genus) (Trapdoor Spider)

Adult Female

Adult Female

Adult Male

Adult Male

Steatoda grossa (Cupboard or Brown house spider)

Tasmanicosa sp. (genus) (Tasmanicosa wolf spider)

Tetragnatha demissa (Crouching Long-jawed Spider)

Tetragnatha sp. (genus) (Long-jawed spider)

Thasyraea lepida (Prowling spider)

Thomisidae (family) (Unidentified Crab spider or Flower spider)

Thomisus spectabilis (Spectacular Crab Spider)

Thyene concinna (Creeping Jumper)

Trichonephila edulis (Golden orb weaver)

Female

Female

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