Common Aussie Spiders

Have you ever seen anything like this curious-looking spider? 

It's a female poecilopachys Australasia, aka, ,two-spined spider found in Australia and New Zealand.

Two-spined spider.

This little fellow was in my co-mother-in-law's back garden.  

She lives around the corner from my daughter's house.  

It's a little bitty thing, only 5/16 of an inch, non-aggressive, and not harmful to people. 

It makes its little web at night and hides under a leaf during the day.

Yellow and white stripped two-spined spider.

Yellow and white two-spined spider.

Video of a two-spined spider crawling.  

The background noise is of squawking cockatoos.

Spiders do not construct webs haphazardly, nor do they catch them by luck; they have a design sense that attracts predators.

Beautiful backyard spider web wet with dew.

Spider season in Sydney begins in September. 

During this time of year, orb-weaving spiders take over the back gardens with very tough webs that stretch securely over vast areas.  

Spiders start with a single sticky thread that they release to the wind to weave their intricate webs. 

When it attaches to an object securely, the spider begins weaving using non-sticky silk. 

They walk around till it's entirely constructed before laying down sticky spiral silk.

 

Web without spider.

Large scaled web in the back gardens.

Web without a spider.

Older web in the back garden.

Spider web, probably constructed by an Orb Weaving spider.

I've seen many impressive webs that appear to be void of spiders in Sydney; however, that doesn't mean that they aren't spiders nearby.

Some spiders lie in wait, hiding from predators by wrapping themselves in leaves or sitting slightly away from the web on a branch.  

But not all spiders hide!

The St. Andrew's Cross sits boldly with its legs in pairs, in plain sight, day and night.

They are supposed to resemble St. Andrews' crucifixion, a martyr who died on a cross in the shape of an X.

At only 1/8 inch long, the spider spins a medium-sized web and decorates it using a silk structure that resembles ribbon, or a zig-zag, called stabilimentum.

The ribbon attracts ultraviolet light, which flying insects like, and the stabilimentum web decoration throws off predators who may not realize it's a spider web. 

Birds avoid decorated webs because experience has taught them that it's tough to get spider silk out of plumage if they fly into them.

Stabilimentum - zig-zag web decoration.

As a scare tactic, the St. Andrews Cross spider will shake the web to confuse and disorientate predators making it easy to pick them off. 

These spiders are not aggressive, nor or they dangerous to people.   

I've seen the Cross on the back of chairs, low railings, and in between bushes in the front garden. 

One seems to live above the Frangipani plant on the front porch because it's always there sitting upside down in the middle of their web, forming an X cross. 

It is uncommon for this spider to enter homes, but haha, unlucky me, it looks like this one got inside.

St. Andrews Cross (pretty sure).

Golden Orb-weavers spiders place their webs pretty high up.  They are non-aggressive and nontoxic arachnids.

They have shiny bodies and long skinny legs with gold bands. 

At 17 inches, the Golden Orb-weaver is one of Australia's biggest spiders. 

They are known for spinning webs between trees and hanging out with their partner.

How sweet!

While their bite's toxicity to humans is similar to a bee sting, it can subdue an animal.

While walking, I came across an impressive female Coastal Golden Orb-Weaver spider.

Although it was very high up, its web caught my attention because it was three-dimensional, making me think that the spider had constructed a three-bedroom spider web!

Its bite is nontoxic but could cause progressive ulceration and loss of skin around the bite site.

The Garden Orb Weaver is another common Aussie spider.  

This one is big, hairy, heavy-bodied, and scary-looking. 

A bite from it may cause mild pain and redness, but it is not toxic - again - similar to a bee sting.

Busy workers, a new web is constructed each night utilizing the same space. 

It's like they remember what matters when weaving a web: location, location, location. 

In the back garden, there are plenty of trees to anchor webs. 

Some mornings I've woken to more webs than I wanted to count.

Each spider species is unique!  

The Garden Orb Weaving spider works through the night to construct a wheel-shaped web.  

When an insect gets stuck, the spider senses vibrations on the web, grabs the prey, wraps it up in silk, and hangs it on the web for later. 

This reddish-brown spider or grey has a triangular-shaped body and a leaf pattern on its back.

They are not aggressive and not prone to bitting; however, if threatened, they will bite, resulting in mild pain, possibly nausea, and dizziness.

Fortunately for me, most of the webs in the yard are high enough to walk under, but I've accidentally walked through enough of them to know it's the worse feeling.  

I've heard that if you walk into one, walking backward out of it is the way to go, but I doubt that would stop me from the knee-jerk reaction of frantically trying to wipe it off.

So, to eliminate the problem, I use my nifty spider stick to move them out of my way.  

My Aussie family disapproved of my tearing down webs at first, but when a large one was blocking the entrance to the front door, my son-in-law yelled out, "Get your stick!"

Australians believe in living in harmony with wildlife which I get, but I'm teaching my grandson how to use my stick!

I find it interesting that all spiders do not weave webs, like the infamous Huntsman spider. 

As their name suggests, this spider stalks then pounces on its prey. 

They are speedy and able to run it down. 

Seeing a Huntsman inside the house in Sydney is expected.  

As big as they are, legs span 5 inches; they flatten their bodies like pancakes to get under doors and windowsills. 

Huntsman spider outside the window pane.

Huntsman spider on the window pane.

It's nontoxic and cautious of people, so I'm not sure why it wants to get inside the house.  

Out of all the spiders I've seen, nothing freaks me out as much as seeing this one crawling up a wall.

While it's true that the most dangerous spiders in the world live in Australia, like the redback, funnel-web, trap door, mouse, white-tailed, recluse, and tarantula, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll see any of these dangerous critters while visiting.   

All of the spiders I've seen are all in this post.

However, that said, if threatened, big or small, toxic or not, all spiders bite just a little.

Spider with horns . . .

Spiders with massive webs . . .

Spiders without webs . . .

I am NOT in Kansas!