|
| |
FAMILY ARANEIDAE
- This page contains pictures and information about Tent Spiders that
we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. They are also known as Dome-web Spiders.
-
 - leg to leg 50mm
-
- Tent Spiders are common in Brisbane gardens and backyards.
The spiders have silver patterns on their bodies, some with yellow
background colour, some with red and some with dark blue. Male
spiders looked the same but bout 1/4 the size of female.
-
   -
- Tent Spiders build tent-shaped webs
between plants and bushes. Their tent shaped webs are
easily recognized, up to 60cm in diameter. Their web look similar to
the web of Russian
Tent Spiders except much larger in size and they do not build the retreat
at the centre of the web.
-
   -
- Unlike the
other spider webs, the webs of Tent Spiders and Russian Tent
Spiders do not have sticky silk. The spiders rest upside down in
the middle of the tent from day to night. Sometimes we can see a few of the Tent Spiders build their
tent webs joined together and cover an area of a
few meters.
-
 
 -
- In summer females make egg-sacs hanging above the middle of their
tent web.
-
 
 -
- The spider use their web for one to two weeks before rebuild it. The spider
will repair the web if it is broken. We found that the spiders use quite an
amount of their time to clean the plant materials which dropped and attached on their
web. They cut part of their web which entangled with the
plant materials and drop them onto ground. They usually build their webs among
the bushes and never across the walking track or path. We seldom
accidentally walk into a tend web.
-
 -
- Immature females are yellow-green in colour. They becomes darker and
more colourful when growing up.
-
- Reference:
- 1. Wildlife
of Greater Brisbane - Queensland Museum 1995, p36.
- 2. Cyrtophora
moluccensis - The
Find-a-spider Guide for Australian Spiders, University of Southern
Queensland, 2007.
- 3. A Guide to Australian Spiders - Densey Clyne, Melbourne, Nelson
1969, p68.
- 4. Australian Spiders in colour - Ramon Mascord, Reed Books Pty
Ltd, 1970, p80.
Back to top.
[ Up ] [ Tent Spider ] [ Russian Tent Spider ] [ Pan-web Spider ]
| |
|
