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u/angerew

r/AustralianSpiders
Beautiful Huntsman, Little Swanport, near Triabunna, TAS
▲ 32 r/AustralianSpiders

Beautiful Huntsman, Little Swanport, near Triabunna, TAS

Maybe 40 mm body length.

Obviously Sparassid/huntsman - keen to know genus and species. Male if I'm not mistaken

Safely relocated to an outdoor gum tree.

Despite my love for spiders, he still gave me an initial jump scare but I'm very glad we met. He must have sensed it because he tried to do the hundred yard dash across the bath and I had to be very careful not to injure a leg while capturing for relocation. Fortunately I was successful.

u/Eathan_Douglas ? Maybe a *Delena* sp that isn't *D.cancerides*?

Edit: can't italicise for some reason.

u/angerew — 3 days ago
▲ 19 r/AustralianSpiders

More little ones from Triabunna way

Tiny, both maybe 2 - 3 mm.

The first is obviously a baby Sparassid.

Second one is harder to work out due to the shadow - unsure if Theriidid or Hersilid (erring on this side but would expect longer spinnerets) or something else.

Just sharing because they're lovely.

u/angerew — 5 days ago
▲ 25 r/AustralianSpiders

Tas East coast (near Triabunna)

A very long shot I know. Due to the posture it's hard to see any discerning features but I thought I'd have a crack anyway.

Found under a rock (quickly returned the rock after taking a pic). Body length 8 - 10 mm, some messy woollen sheet silk on the rock itself. I'm thinking Amaurobidae or recently elevated Macrobunidae.

Any educated guesses?

Otherwise - I found a cool spider under a rock.

u/angerew — 7 days ago
▲ 48 r/AustralianSpiders

Beautiful winter web

Outside my house in Hobart this morning was a dense fog, almost impenetrable.

By 9.15 it had dropped away leaving a very chilly but very beautiful, still and sunny day.

As I left my house, I saw something I rarely see here even in Spring or Summer - this beautiful, dew laden orb. Haven't looked for the fabricator yet - maybe a bit later on.

u/angerew — 1 month ago
▲ 15 r/AustralianSpiders

Stanwellia sp? Hobart, Tasmania

Sorry the photo isn't great. I just rode past it at night while it was sitting in the middle of the bike path and these were the best shots I could get from my phone with a flash.

I'm guessing Stanwellia sp, male, possibly pexa. Gave it a gentle nudge with a stick so he could avoid being squished by passing bikes or joggers and to give him a better chance of finding love. There's plenty of natural growth on either side of the path.

As much as I love spiders and am fascinated by them, I rarely encounter anything uncommon and this is the first, living mygalamorph I've seen in the wild in 50 years.

u/angerew — 2 months ago
▲ 18 r/AustralianSpiders

Hickmania troglodytes (Tasmanian cave spider)

A work colleague observed, photographed and sent to me.

I'm yet to see one in real life but my fingers are crossed.

Mole creek, TAS

u/angerew — 3 months ago
▲ 7 r/AustralianSpiders

Thomisidae? Maybe Sidymella sp? Glenorchy, Tasmania

Moving some pot plants and found this lovely one near a Dysdera crocata (slater eater). I didn't have my glasses and I'm currently seeing spiders everywhere (due to obsession rather than actual existence). Gave it a nudge with my finger - no movement so I gently picked it up by the front legs. A spider indeed but a dead one (I thought) so I took it inside for photography and drawing. Part way, she wriggled and showed her aliveness so I placed her on the door mat and photographed her. She's since been relocated to a nearby plant. Dysdera remained where it was.

https://preview.redd.it/z04w96zbn10h1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b63f3f113738e1fbac3a58548f2574834d90dcd

https://preview.redd.it/yb1ogazbn10h1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8551bf5087dba4737fbe6e43da357280d71ff58a

https://preview.redd.it/r3u546zbn10h1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a6584bc59c28351e49176e10b58b817acb7d0c3

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u/angerew — 3 months ago
▲ 9 r/AustralianSpiders

Hi,

A query for anyone working in the field of invertebrate zoology, esp entomology or arachnology.

I've posted this before but I'm currently in a position of assisting at our state museum to identify wet specimen Araneae to family level or beyond. Had my first day yesterday - mostly helped re-label identified Tas Mygalamorphs from older taxonomic classifications to newer ones (eg: Atracidae from Hexathalidae, Atrax venenatus to Hadronyche venenata, Misgolas to Arbanitis, Arbanitis tasmanicus to Cryptoforis tasmanicus.) and check the database to confirm. Was a fun day.

I knew before going in but when confronted with the reality, the point really sinks in - wet specimens lose all of their distinctive colouration, markings are obscured, etc. In short, they look quite different from living examples. I have access to some decent dissecting microscopes and a stacking camera. I'm trying to develop a cheat sheet: looking at paraxial vs diaxial fangs (discerning Order), eye number & formation (helping with family placement), body size & shape, palp shape (helping with sex discernment), location of capture and presence/absence of teeth on chelicerae (hopefully helping with family placement to a degree).

Add in number of book lungs, presence/absence of epigyne, spinnaret number and formation - are there any standout morphological features I should research? Expecting delivery of Rainer Biology of spiders any day soon which should help.

I also have permission to post images here - if there are users of this sub confident in identifying from ethanol/water specimens, I can do so. Obviously unalive spiders but captured and preserved for scientific purposes, not harmed from irrational fear or lack of education.

I even found one example of Hadronyche formidablis found in a swimming pool in Berriedale. I'd consider misidentification but the identifier was Dr Michael Gray so I reckon it travelled on a road trip (luggage, etc) and found its way to the pool. I ain't at a level close to questioning that ID.

Help not expected but super appreciated. No - I do not wear cardigans.

u/WestCoastInverts u/CalmResearcher9172, u/Toxopsoides @-u/biggaz81 do you have recommendations? There's others but I can't work out the reddit tag system and remember the exact names - DaveJK?

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u/angerew — 4 months ago