Funnel web spiders, whose Latin name is Agelenidae, belong to the family of araneomorph spiders. There are 42 genera and 515 species of funnel-web spiders known in nature. There are 26 species common in Russia, which belong to 9 genera.
The name of this spider comes from two words - age and lenis, which translated from Latin means “to move unclearly.” This name is due to the peculiarities of movement of these individuals. Their running, unlike the smooth, straight running of other spiders, is intermittent and inconsistent. But, despite this feature, the insect received the name “funnel”, or “grass”. In Eastern European countries, the most common species of this spider is the house spider. In Russian colloquial speech it is often called a house spider.
Distribution of the Sydney funnel web spider.
The Sydney funnel web spider lives within a 160 kilometer radius of Sydney. Related species are found in eastern Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. Distributed mainly south of the Hunter River in the Illawarra and west in the mountains of New South Wales. Found near Canberra, which is located 250 km from Sydney.
Atrax robustus
Habitats of the Sydney funnel-web spider.
Sydney funnel spiders live in deep gullies under rocks and in depressions under fallen trees. They also live in damp places under houses, in various crevices in the garden and in compost heaps. Their white webs are 20 to 60 cm long and extend into the soil, which has stable, high humidity and low temperatures. The entrance to the shelter is either L-shaped or T-shaped and covered with funnel-shaped webs, hence the name funnel spiders.
Habitats
Representatives of the family Agelenidae can be found in northwestern Europe. Tegenaria domestica is the most common species of this insect and can be found throughout the region. The habitat of the species Tegenaria agrestis, Agelenopsis, Allagelena, Alloclubionoides, Tegecoelotes was found in the south of the Far East; Agelena Paracoelotes - in Siberia and the south of the Far East; Iwogumoa interuna - on Sakhalin, Moneron and the Southern Kuril Islands.
Usually funnel-web spiders can be found near people's homes or in the grass. But their appearance is especially frequent in the autumn, during the mating period, when the male is looking for a female on the walls of buildings.
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External signs of the Sydney funnel-web spider.
The Sydney funnel web spider is a medium-sized arachnid. The male is smaller than the female with long legs, his body length is up to 2.5 cm, the female is up to 3.5 cm long. The color of the integument is glossy blue-black, dark plum or brown, beautiful, velvety hairs cover the abdomen. The chitin of the cephalothorax is almost naked, smooth and shiny. The limbs are thickened. Massive and strong jaws are noticeable.
Reproduction of the Sydney funnel-web spider.
Sydney funnel web spiders usually breed in late summer or early autumn. After mating, after some time, the female lays 90 - 12 greenish-yellow eggs. Under unfavorable conditions, seed material can be stored for a certain time in the female genitals. Males are able to reproduce at about four years of age, and females a little later.
Description of the arthropod
The size of this spider is considered to be medium or small. The size of females varies from one and a half to three centimeters, males are usually a centimeter smaller. The color of the spider has beige-brown shades, sometimes black. The most distinctive feature is the presence of 2 dark longitudinal stripes on the back of the spider. But these stripes appear only after the first three molts of the insect. Striping can also appear on other parts of the body. The front legs of the funnel-web spider are long, and in some cases even longer than the hind legs. It has 8 eyes, 2 of which are on top, 2 on the sides, and the remaining 4 in a single row are located in front. Only 2 eyes located on top are fully functional; the remaining eyes are simple. Therefore, the spider moves using its front legs, relying on motion sensors.
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Behavior of the Sydney funnel web spider.
Sydney funnel web spiders are primarily terrestrial arachnids and prefer habitats with wet sand and clay. They are solitary predators, except during the breeding season. Females tend to live in the same place unless their shelter is flooded during the rainy season. Males tend to wander around in search of a mate. Sydney funnel spiders hide in tubular burrows or crevices with jagged edges and an exit in the form of a “funnel” woven from a web.
In a number of exceptions, in the absence of a suitable place, spiders simply sit in openings with an arachnoid entrance pipe, which has two funnel-shaped holes.
The den of the Sydney Funnel Puck can be in the hollow of a tree trunk, and raised several meters from the surface of the ground.
Males find females by secreting pheremones. During the breeding season, spiders are most aggressive. The female waits for the male near the web funnel, sitting on a silk lining in the depths of the hole. Males are often found in damp places where spiders hide, and fall into bodies of water by accident during their travels. But even after such a bath, the Sydney funnel-web spider remains alive for twenty-four hours. Once taken out of the water, the spider does not lose its aggressive abilities and can bite its accidental savior when it is released onto land.
Reproduction
The male looks for the female’s shelter, approaches it, taps in a certain way, calling the mistress. If the “lady” reciprocates, mating occurs and the couple lives together for several weeks. After this, the “suitor” needs to leave in a timely manner, since the female can eat him.
The fertilized female weaves a cocoon from the web, lays eggs, and leaves it in the hole. Several hundred spiders develop at a time, but about 50 are born. They spread out in different directions, each beginning their own independent life. Under natural conditions, the arachnid lives for about 3 years.
Feeding of the Sydney funnel web spider.
Sydney funnel web spiders are true predators. Their diet consists of beetles, cockroaches, insect larvae, land snails, centipedes, frogs and other small vertebrates. All prey ends up on the edges of the web funnel. Spiders weave their catching nets exclusively from dry silk. Insects, attracted by the shine of the web, sit down and stick. The funnel-web spider, sitting in ambush, moves along a slippery thread towards the victim and eats the insects caught in the trap. He constantly extracts prey from the funnel.
Brown
Females of this species of spiders are very caring mothers who look after their spiderlings for a month after birth. No one dares to disturb their peace, otherwise the female mercilessly kills the troublemaker, whom she subsequently eats. The spider also feeds its children with the killed victim.
This type of spider has its own communication system. For example, when cubs want to eat, they touch their mother with their limbs. Thus, the female understands that it is time to feed them.
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The Sydney funnel web spider is dangerous.
The Sydney funnel web spider secretes a venom, a compound called atraxotoxin, which is highly toxic to primates. The venom of a small male is 5 times more toxic than that of a female. This type of spider often settles in gardens near human homes and crawls indoors. For an unknown reason, it is representatives of the primate order (humans and monkeys) that are especially sensitive to the venom of the Sydney funnel-web spider, while it has a non-lethal effect on rabbits, toads and cats. Disturbed spiders ensure complete intoxication by releasing poison into the victim’s body. The aggressiveness of these arachnids is so high that it is not recommended to get too close to them.
The chance of getting bitten is too great, especially dangerous for small children.
Since the development of an antivenom in 1981, bites from the Sydney funnel-web spider are no longer as life-threatening. But the symptoms of the action of a toxic substance are characteristic: heavy sweating, muscle cramps, copious salivation, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure. Poisoning is accompanied by vomiting and pale skin, followed by loss of consciousness and death if the medicine is not administered. When providing first aid, a pressure bandage should be applied above the bite site to reduce the spread of poison through the blood vessels and ensure complete immobility of the patient and call a doctor. The long-term condition of the bitten person depends on the timeliness of medical care.
Conservation status of the Sydney funnel-web spider.
The Sydney funnel web spider has no special conservation status. An Australian park is obtaining spider venom for testing to determine an effective antidote. More than 1,000 funnel-web spiders were studied, but such use of spiders for scientific purposes is unlikely to lead to a sharp decrease in numbers. The Sydney funnel-web spider is sold to private collections and zoos; despite its poisonous qualities, there are hobbyists who keep spiders as pets.
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Harm and benefit
The harm of funnel-web spiders is negligible compared to their benefits. Of course, especially poisonous spiders cause enormous harm to humans, but such species are very rare. The main harm we have to face is just the annoying web.
The benefits of spiders are global. After all, spiders are very voracious creatures. Every day they need food weighing at least their own body weight.
Some spiders are able to use their nets to catch more than 100 insects per day, among which flies predominate.
Now imagine that in open areas (fields, meadows, forests) on 1 hectare of land there live from 1 to 5 million all kinds of spiders, and each spider eats at least 2 flies a day, then how many of these pests die thanks to spiders! After all, flies are actually not such harmless creatures as they seem at first glance. The fly is a carrier of a huge number of harmful microbes - about 26 million of all kinds of microbes live on the body of one individual, causing terrible diseases in humans. And if it were not for spiders, then the entire planet would long ago have been filled with myriads of flies.
Brownie
This is the yellow funnel-web spider that is most familiar to us, as it can be found in any home, closet, barn and other rooms. Sometimes you can see a dark brown pattern on the back of house spiders. The female is usually much larger than the male.
They place trap webs in the corners. In appearance it looks straight, but its central part drops sharply into the depths of the corner. These spiders are most active at night. The house spider is not dangerous to humans, since its bites are not poisonous.
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Brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus)
The brown widow spider, like other widow spiders, is equipped with neurotoxic venom. Its effect is manifested in increasing pain, spreading from the site of the bite throughout the body for an hour. The more poison enters the body, the stronger the pain. Spreading through the blood, the poison causes muscle cramps. Nausea is observed, sweating increases, and the person feels restless.
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The brown widow has trouble seeing. If it is not in the net, it may bite if it feels threatened. Males are generally less dangerous than females. But they bite if the web is disturbed. To avoid being bitten, it is recommended to shake off poisonous spiders rather than crush them.
Bishop's Widow (Latrodectus bishopi)
The spider with a black back and red legs belongs to the black widow species. According to research by biologist James Carrel, the poisonous red-legged arachnid feeds on scarabs, beetles with a diameter of 25–37 mm.
Bishop's widow is difficult to study due to its limited habitat and secretive nature. The spider spins a web in the funnel-shaped part of a young palmetto leaf. It is impossible to see the trap from afar. A scarab that lands on a leaf rolls into a web and, under its own weight, falls into a funnel, becoming the prey of a hunter.
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Arachnids live on the sandy hills of North America and are an endemic species, that is, living in only one place on the planet.
Some sources list Bishop's widow as one of the most dangerous on the grounds that all black widows are dangerous. Symptoms of a black widow bite: severe pain, muscle spasms, excessive sweating, vomiting, hypertension. The malaise lasts 3–5 days. However, there is not a single case in the medical literature in which Bishop's widow bit a person.
