![]() ![]() Prey is usually ambushed from within the safety of the trapdoor 'hides', but mouse spiders have been observed foraging outside the burrow at night. Insects are the main prey of mouse spiders but their diet could possibly include small vertebrates and other spiders. They often fall into suburban swimming pools. The males are often encountered when they wander searching for females from late summer until April-May. Recently, almost 300 specimens were collected from the backyard of a house on the central coast of New South Wales after flooding rains drove the animals from their burrows. Unlike other species, this mouse spider has occasionally been reported living in large aggregations. The forest dwelling Eastern Mouse Spider appears to have a single, flap-like door and a shallow burrow with a side chamber. Little is known about the burrows of other species. These can help alert the spider to approaching prey or male spiders and also help with surface navigation while hunting. A few silk triplines may extend outwards from the entrances. Having two doors probably increases both prey catching area and efficiency. They may be thin and wafer-like or thick and plug-like. The silk and soil trapdoors often merge well with the ground, making them hard to see (and increasing the impression of scattered rather than aggregated burrow sites, making accurate estimates of their abundance difficult). The burrow's most unusual feature are the two surface trapdoors set almost at right angles to each other. It provides a refuge from predators and a safe place for the egg sac and spiderlings. A side chamber extends off the main burrow shaft, usually closed by a trapdoor. The burrows built by the big inland Red-headed Mouse spiders are large, silk-lined burrows that vary from 20 cm to 55 cm deep and are widest in the entrance and bottom chamber areas. Varied owing to the wide distribution range. The following key features distinguish the mouse spiders from other large black spiders: Males of some species have distinctive colour markings but others are black overall.Male spiders have no mating spurs on the legs.Male spiders have long slender pedipalps.The spinnerets are short, the last segment domed and button-like.The eyes are spread across the front of the carapace, not closely grouped.Mouse spiders have high, bulbous heads and jaws.The legs are dark and may appear long and thin.įemales are larger, stockier, more solid spider than the males, with a uniform black cephalothorax (fused head and thorax) and body. The head is very wide, shiny, and black, sometimes with bright red or orange-red jaws (chelicerae) and eye region. Identificationĭepending on the species, their abdomen is uniform black or dark blue, or black with a light grey to white patch on top. Fortunately, mouse spiders are not usually abundant in heavily populated urban areas. While mouse spider bites are not common, a few have caused serious effects in humans, with symptoms similar to funnel-web spider envenomation. They are often confused with funnel-web spiders. Mouse spiders, Missulena sp., vary from 10 mm - 35 mm body length and all have distinctively bulbous head and jaw regions. ![]()
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