Funnel-web spiders

Permission has been granted to kidcyber to use this photograph:Sydney Funnel-web Spider (Atrax robustus) Photographer: Alan Henderson / Source: Museum Victoria

Some funnel-web spiders live in trees.

Sydney funnel-web spiders live in holes in the ground.

Funnel-web spiders eat beetles and cochroaches.

The Sydney funnel-web spider is a dangerous spider.

There are many species of funnel-web spiders found throughout Australia. Some are dangerous, some are not.
The northern, or tree dwelling, funnel-web spider is not often seen but it is very poisonous.
Other species of funnel-webs that live in southern parts of Australia are not dangerous.

The best known species is the Sydney funnel-web spider.
Sydney funnel-web spiders are large black spiders with big powerful fangs, which can be up to 7 millimetres long. The body of the female is about 3.5 centimetres long.
The male is smaller and about 2.5 centimetres long. Their bodies are covered with fine hairs and they have shiny legs.

The dangerous males
Male Sydney funnel-web spiders are Australia's most dangerous spider. These aggressive spiders grab onto their victims and bite several times, injecting a very poisonous venom. Some people have died from the bite of these spiders, but since 1980 when a Sydney funnel-web spider antivenom was invented, no-one has died from the bite of a Sydney funnel-web spider.

Where do Sydney funnel-web spiders live?
Sydney funnel-web spiders live in and around Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. They live in small, neat holes lined with a collar of silk. The holes are made in shady places under rocks, shrubs, logs and leaf litter. Silk threads lead away from the entrance to the burrow. These are trip lines and when prey walks into them, the spider dashes out of the burrow to grab it. The spider bites the prey and takes it back into the burrow to eat. Funnel-web spiders prey on and eat beetles, cockroaches, insect larvae, snails, millipedes and sometimes even small frogs and lizards.

Life Cycle
A female mates with a male spider and then lays from 80 to 200 yellow-green eggs, which she wraps in a silk egg sac. She keeps the sac inside her burrow and guards it until the young spiders, called spiderlings, hatch about three weeks later. The spiderlings share their mother's burrow for a few weeks before wandering off to find a place of their own to live. Males die a few months after mating but females can live and breed for several years.

You can read more about funnel-web spiders and see photos here http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/funnelweb.htm

If you use any of this information in your own work acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this: Thomas, R. & Sydenham,S. Funnel-web spiders, Australia [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2007)

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