Spider cluster

Perhaps in acknowledgement of the sensitivities of arachnophobes, spiders have not featured all that often on this blog, and here we have deliberately not featured a full-size photo.

But we received two photos of fine looking spiders from regular contributor Dave that are worth sharing. The spiders were found under a tyre on the property “Three Sisters” at Flowerdale. There was, in fact, a cluster (if that’s the correct collective name) of different species all apparently cohabiting happily – Red-back Spiders (Latrodectus hasseltii), Daddy Long-legs (Pholcus phalangioides) and a White-tailed Spider (Lampona cylindrata), as well as the Prowling Spider (Miturga sp.) and unidentified spider pictured below. We would welcome any identification suggestions for the latter. Prowling spiders (family Miturgidae) are so named because of their wandering hunting habits.

The other spider pictured was found hiding in a tray of revegetation tube-stock plants – poised to surprise an unsuspecting worker. This one looks to us like a Badge Huntsman Spider (Neosparassus diana), which was featured on a previous post.

Click on the photos below for a closer slideshow look at these striking specimens.