Foxes Lair
  • Home
  • About
    • About Foxes Lair
    • History
    • Landscape and Soils
  • Things To Do
    • Scavenger hunt
    • Picnic Spots
    • Walking Tracks
    • Visit the Arboretum
    • Geocaching and Orienteering
    • Ride Your Bicycle
  • Things To See
    • Birds
    • Wildflowers
    • Trees in the Narrogin district
    • Narrogin spiders scorpions ticks
    • Vertebrates
    • Fungi and lichens
  • Other Places to Visit
    • FAMILY bush attractions
    • WILDLIFE bush attractions
    • WILDFLOWER bush attractions
    • all reserves
  • 1Foxypress
    • Foxypress
    • Vanishing Farms
  • Foxes Lair seasonal guide
  • Contact

ORB WEAVERS
​

A. Orb weavers that remain on the web during the day                                       

Picture
Christmas Spiders Austracantha minax webs are commonly seen between trees in summer in Foxes Lair in December/January. Active during the day, often in groups. Eyes on two equal rows. Four located centrally with other 4 wide laterally.

More information:
Christmas Spider

Picture
Golden Orb Weaver Nephila edulis occasionally builds a large gold-tinted day-active web between trees in summer in Foxes Lair but is common around homes further west. Eyes on two equal rows. Four located centrally with other 4 wide laterally.  Check out tiny males and tiny silver  kleptoparasitic Dewdrop Spiders in the webs.

More information: Foxypress blog  Arachne website

 Garbage Line Spider Cyclosa trilobata is a day-active spider in an orb web with radial lines of thickened silk (stabilimenta) that contains the remains of their prey with the spider hidden in the line in the centre of the web. The elongated abdomen has two distinctive humps. Eyes on two equal rows.
More information: Foxypress blog
Picture
Picture
Picture
.
Argiope genus spiders often have a carapace (head) clothed in silvery hairs have thickened silk decorations  (stabilimenta)
More information: Arachne website . Myrmician spiders of WA
Picture
St Andrews Cross Spider Argiope trifasciata
Picture
Argiope protensa Teardrop Spider


Leaf Curling Spider Phonognatha graeffei  has an orb web that is often partial or damaged, with a curled eucalypt leaf in the centre. It is very common in Foxes Lair shrubby woodland in summer. The spider is rarely seen outside the curled leaf.

More information:
Foxypress blog  Leaf Curling Spider
Picture
B. Orb weavers that build a new web each night
At  dawn these spiders eat their web and hide during the day
B1 Wrap around spider Dolophenes sp.
​
 Tiny spiders that hide by wrapping around cylindrical plant parts (eg small sticks stems) during the day
Picture
Picture
PictureAraneus eburnieventris
 B2 Garden and Desert orb weavers have very spiny legs and hide in foliage during the day. Eyes are on two equal rows: Four located centrally on small stalks with the other four wide laterally.

Garden Orb Weavers Eriophila, Araneus sp. are common in gardens and bush.
​Desert Orb Weavers Backobourkia sp. are mainly seen in the bush; they have a white triangular mark at the front of the abdomen and relatively strong spines on the back.
​
More information Myrmician spiders of WA Eriophila

Picture
Backobourkia heroine
Picture
Backobourkia sp?
Picture
Eriophera sp?
Picture
Eriophera sp?
Picture
Typical hiding position
B3 Stick spiders Poltys species sit immobile during the day on twigs or stems with legs folded high above their carapace to resemble a dry broken twig or nut and weave an orb web at night.
Picture
Picture
Picture
© 2015 All Rights Reserved. Doug Sawkins, Australia.