Venomous spiders in australia

[jeffh_x]

just wondering..i was told to beware of black widows here since i just moved over...and my sister said theres also this brown colored spider around the size of a dwarf tarantula that she doesnt know if its dangerous or not...could it be a brown recluse? any aussies here can u please help? are there black widows and brown recluses around??

[CedrikG]

well ... duno if theres phoneutria there but this is a brown spider ... I would'nt mess wth this species ... but you soo lucky to move there, where theres lots of nice animals, arachnid of all kind

[blacktara]

Black widows, assorted funnel web species, and the moue spider (that looks somewhat like a funnel web) are the main ones to worry about as far as I know

[Randolph XX()]

my guess is white tail spider
, cuz i've seen quite a few of them when i was living in Melbourne
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/white_tailed_spider.htm

[Steve Nunn]

just wondering..i was told to beware of black widows here since i just moved over...and my sister said theres also this brown colored spider around the size of a dwarf tarantula that she doesnt know if its dangerous or not...could it be a brown recluse? any aussies here can u please help? are there black widows and brown recluses around??

Hi,
What is your location in Oz?? I take it this spider isn't a mygale??? Was it on a verticle surface?? If so it was probably just a brown huntsmen, totally harmless, large and kinda scary, but totally harmless. On the gound and it could be any number of spiders??? In a web and it's something different again. I can help you and at least id it to family, probably genus. But I need more info!!!

Cheers,
Steve

[jeffh_x]

thanks for the link randolph!! yeah im in melbourne..just a question though..these spiders only appear during summer> what is the probability of them showing uo during winter now..or is it just the summer when they start appearing all over? i guess its the small ones that i should worry about...

[Steve Nunn]

Hi Josh,
Yeah, sounds like a common brown huntsman. There aren't too many nasties you have to watch out for, here's a little list, you should find images of these spiders on the net somewhere...

Badumna spp. (common house spider, they pack a good punch and are known for necrotising arachnidism).

Lampona cylindrata (white tailed spider), blamed for necrotising arachnidism also.

Latrodectus hasselti (redback)

Any mygalomorph should be viewed as dangerous.

That's about it for Melbourne :)

Steve