Celaenia excavata
1 Bird-dropping spider at Kambah, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Celaenia excavata | Bron | 8 Feb 2021 | |
| Celaenia excavata | HelenCross | 8 Feb 2021 |
Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.
User's notes
With 7 egg sacs and moth prey
11 comments
8 Feb 2021
There's an interesting article by Peter Chew in Brisbane about the moths this spider eats Helen
https://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_orbweavers/BirdDroppingSpider.htm
https://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_orbweavers/BirdDroppingSpider.htm
8 Feb 2021
Thanks Bron, lots of interesting information there! I'd read on the species page here about how they attract male moths but didn't know it's only one species!
8 Feb 2021
Fascinating isn't it - not sure tho' whether that only pertains to Brisbane area - I wonder has anyone looked into what happens here? ALA https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:41c356bf-cdba-4268-a098-fb0f3e572a55 shows Canberra as the southern-most record for Spodoptera mauritia, whereas Celaenia excavata's rage extends south and west of here so they must be eating something!!
9 Feb 2021
I've been keeping an eye on one of these spiders in the local park for the past week, hoping to get a good view of the prey moth. So far, I have seen two, the first discarded and missing all its soft parts and most of the scales on its wings, the second too tightly wrapped in silk to see any details. However, they look very much the same size and shape as the ones shown here.
10 Feb 2021
I've added some photos of the moths that are hanging in the same shrub underneath the spider - sighting 4371024
Location information
- Maps Lions Youth Haven - Westwood Farm A.C.T.
- Places Kambah, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- HelenCross Recorded by
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
Collections
- Insects & spiders on Bursaria spinosa - a research project. HelenCross Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Celaenia excavata Orb-weaving spiders (several families) Spiders
Species information
- Celaenia excavata Scientific name
- Bird-dropping spider Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 702m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
6 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species