Bird-dropping spider at Cook, ACT
Identification history
| Celaenia excavata | 12 Apr 2021 | Bron | ||
| Celaenia excavata | 12 Apr 2021 | CathB |
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User's notes
Same spider shown with its moth prey in sightings 4373081 and 4378642. Image 1 shows it at night with legs outstretched in hunting posture; image 2, also at night, shows it with a shrivelled abdomen after not feeding for some time and producing a new egg sac; image 3 shows its typical daytime posture sitting motionless on egg sacs with legs drawn in; image 4 shows the ventral side of the abdomen with 2 spiderlings; image 5 is a side view after producing an eighth egg sac.
Since first seen on 2 February, the spider has fed on one Diarsia intermixta and 21 Proteuxoa tortisigna moths and produced 3 new egg sacs. Spiderlings have only been seen on two occasions, although holes have appeared in five of the egg sacs during this time. As the egg sacs are thought to contain up to 200 eggs, either most do not hatch or else they disperse very quickly.
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Nearby sightings
Location information
- Coordinates 149.069432-35.265102
- Places Cook, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 1 Apr 2021 11:21 AM Recorded on
- CathB Recorded by
Additional information
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
Species information
- Celaenia excavata Scientific name
- Bird-dropping spider Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-Invasive
- Up to 702m Recorded at altitude
- Machine learning
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Confirmed by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
