Spiders

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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

Huntsman spiders (Sparassidae)

Jumping or peacock spiders (Salticidae)

Wolf spiders (Lycosidae)

Other hunting spiders

Orb-weaving spiders (several families)

Trapdoor, Funnelweb or Mouse spiders (Mygalomorphae)

Other web-building spiders

Water spiders (Pisauridae)

Moderators

YumiCallaway

NateKingsford

EmmaCollins

EathanDouglas

become a moderator

Announcements

Temporary disruption to attributes

Yesterday

There will be some temporary disruption to attributes when adding or editing sightings while we upgrade a complex part of the system.This may mean that some of the usual questions that are relevant to...

New feature: duplicate a sighting

Capital Ecology backs NatureMapr for 2026

NatureMapr integrates with Wildlife Insights for NSW based camera trap data

NatureMapr update

Discussion

JasonPStewartNMsnc2016 wrote:

Yesterday

Yo ! Watch this space – many more to come from times past back as far as the 1990s and recent sightings, across eastern coastal regions of this continent .

Pandercetes gracilis

YumiCallaway wrote:

Yesterday

How exciting! :D Great to get more species represented on the database

Pandercetes gracilis

JasonPStewartNMsnc2016 wrote:

Yesterday

@EathanDouglas . Kindly thank you !

Pandercetes gracilis

EathanDouglas wrote:

Yesterday

Had to add this one to the system :)