Spiders (Araneae)

Overview

When submitting sightings of spiders, these are some tips you might like to consider:

- photos from various angles is very much appreciated and is sometimes necessary for specific ID. Eg. front (eye arrangement, pedipalp colour), dorsal (above - general colouration, carapace and abdomen patterns), ventral (underneath - especially useful for some of the ground-dwelling families and orb-weaving families)

- indicative photos and/or notes on the following also provides valuable information if/when such features are applicable and observed...

surroundings and location (eg. ground, leaf litter, hand rail, tree trunk)
web structure and silk use (eg. orb, messy & tangled, throwing silk)
breeding (eg. display, egg sac)
behaviour (eg. hunting, interaction, familiarity with people such as the threatening display of a huntsman or the friendly and curious jumping spiders that jump onto the camera lens)
notable, unique, exciting or strange observations (eg. spur-like protrusions from legs, camouflage, mimicry)

- the size of the spider is measured as the body length. i.e. from the top of the cephalothorax to the bottom of the abdomen without including the legs.

(Note: please feel free to message YumiCallaway if you have any suggestions for improvement or other queries)

A good introduction:

http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/allies/araneae.html

All about Australian spiders:

http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2409