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Missulena Occatoria
''Missulena occatoria'', known as the red-headed mouse spider, is a species of spider found in Southern Australia, from open forest to desert shrubland. It is the largest (females up to 24 mm, males up to 12 mm) and most widely distributed ''Missulena'' species, because the spiderlings are wind-dispersed (ballooning). Normally this only occurs with araneomorph spiders, mygalomorph spiders normally disperse by walking. ''Missulena'' venom may be very toxic, but few cases of serious envenomation have been recorded. Most recorded bites only caused minor effects, with Australian funnel-web spider antivenom having proved effective as a treatment.Australian MuseumRed-headed Mouse Spider, ''Missulena occatoria''/ref> The spiders dig a burrow up to 55 cm deep, with two trapdoors. While the females are black with a red tinge, the males have a bright red head and jaws, and a gunmetal blue-black abdomen. Taxonomy ''M. occatoria'' was first described by Charles Athanase Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Athanase Walckenaer
Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist. Biography Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Glasgow, Glasgow. In 1793 he was appointed head of the military transports in the Pyrenees, after which he pursued technical studies at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and the École polytechnique. He was elected member of the Institut de France in 1813, was mayor (''maire'') in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, 5th arrondissement in Paris and secretary-general of the prefect of the Seine (département), Seine 1816–1825. He was made a baron in 1823. In 1839 he was appointed conservator for the Department of Maps at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Royal Library in Paris and in 1840 secretary for life in the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. He was one of the founders of the Société entomologique de France in 1832, and a "r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Australia
The term Southern Australia is generally considered to refer to the states and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. The part of Western Australia south of latitude 26° south a definition widely used in law and state government policy is also usually included. Although it comprises about half of the total area of Australia, Southern Australia includes about three-quarters of the Australian population, the main agricultural areas and the main industrial centres. The area is also notable for its primarily temperate, mediterranean, alpine or arid environmental and climatic conditions which contrasts to the mainly tropical climate of Northern Australia. Southern Australia has long suffered extreme weather events due to the arid landscape, however in recent times these conditions have been exacerbated due to climate change. The region has several key industries which contribute to the high gross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballooning (spider)
Ballooning, sometimes called kiting, is a process by which spiders, and some other small invertebrates, move through the air by releasing one or more gossamer threads to catch the wind, causing them to become airborne at the mercy of air currents and electric fields. A 2018 study concluded that electric fields provide enough force to lift spiders in the air, and possibly elicit ballooning behavior. This is primarily used by spiderlings to disperse; however, larger individuals have been observed doing so as well. The spider climbs to a high point and takes a stance with its abdomen to the sky, releasing fine silk threads from its spinneret until it becomes aloft. Journeys achieved vary from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres. Even atmospheric samples collected from balloons at five kilometres altitude and ships mid-ocean have reported spider landings. Ballooning can be dangerous (due to predators, and due to the unpredictable nature of long-distance ballooning, which may brin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Araneomorphae
The Araneomorphae (also called the Labidognatha) are an infraorder of spiders. They are distinguishable by chelicerae (fangs) that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae (tarantulas and their close kin), where they point straight down. Araneomorphs comprise the vast majority of living spiders. Distinguishing characteristics Most spider species are Araneomorphae, which have fangs that face towards each other, increasing the orientations they can employ during prey capture. They have fewer book lungs (when present), and the females typically live one year. The Mygalomorphae have fangs that face towards the ground, and which are parallel to the long axis of the spider's body, thus they have only one orientation they can employ during prey capture. They have four pairs of book lungs, and the females often live many years. Image:Atrax robustus.jpg, This ''Atrax robustus'' shows the orientation of Myglamorphae fangs. Image:Che ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mygalomorphae
The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to them forming trapdoors over their burrows. Other prominent groups include Australian funnel web spiders and tarantulas, with the latter accounting for around one third of all mygalomorphs. Description This group of spiders comprises mostly heavy-bodied, stout-legged spiders including tarantulas, Australian funnel-web spiders, mouse spiders, and various families of spiders commonly called trapdoor spiders. Like the " primitive" suborder of spiders Mesothelae, they have two pairs of book lungs, and downward-pointing chelicerae. Because of this, the two groups were once believed to be closely related. Later it was realized that the common ancestors of all spiders had these features (a state known as symplesiomorphy). Following the branching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Funnel-web Spider
Atracidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders, commonly known as Australian funnel-web spiders or atracids. It has been included as a subfamily of the Hexathelidae, but is now recognized as a separate family. All members of the family are native to Australia. Atracidae consists of three genera: ''Atrax'', '' Hadronyche'', and ''Illawarra'', comprising 35 species. Some members of the family produce venom that is dangerous to humans, and bites by spiders of six of the species have caused severe injuries to victims. The bites of the Sydney funnel-web spider (''Atrax robustus'') and northern tree-dwelling funnel-web spider (''Hadronyche formidabilis'') are potentially deadly, but no fatalities have occurred since the introduction of modern first-aid techniques and antivenom. Description Spiders in the family Atracidae are medium to large in size, with body lengths ranging from 1 to 5 cm (0.4 to 2.0 in), with one exceptional specimen reaching 8 cm (3.1 in). They have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal cavity. In arthropods it is the posterior (anatomy), posterior tagma (biology), tagma of the body; it follows the thorax or cephalothorax. In humans, the abdomen stretches from the thorax at the thoracic diaphragm to the pelvis at the pelvic brim. The pelvic brim stretches from the lumbosacral joint (the intervertebral disc between Lumbar vertebrae, L5 and Vertebra#Sacrum, S1) to the pubic symphysis and is the edge of the pelvic inlet. The space above this inlet and under the thoracic diaphragm is termed the abdominal cavity. The boundary of the abdominal cavity is the abdominal wall in the front and the peritoneal surface at the rear. In vertebrates, the abdomen is a large body c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missulena Insignis
''Missulena insignis'', commonly known as the lesser red-headed mouse spider, is a species of spider belonging to the family Actinopodidae native to Australia. The species name is derived from the Latin ''insignis'' "mark". Taxonomy The species was first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1877, as ''Eriodon insigne''. Separately, William Joseph Rainbow described a male collected from Menindie, New South Wales as ''Actinopus formosus'' in 1896, ''formosus'' being Latin for "handsome/beautiful". H. Womersley in 1943 regarded ''Actinopus formosus'' as a synonym of ''Missulena occatoria''. Barbara York Main in 1985 treated ''Actinopus formosus'' as a synonym of ''Missulena insignis'', the position adopted by the World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara York Main
Barbara Anne York Main (27 January 1929 – 14 May 2019) Ann Jones (2019"Barbara York Main, Australia's spider woman and Wheatbelt advocate, author and poet dies"''Off Track'', Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Published May 23, 2019. Accessed May 23, 2019. was an Australian arachnologist and adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia. The author of four books and over 90 research papers, Main is recognised for her prolific work in establishing taxonomy for arachnids, personally describing 34 species and seven new genera. The BBC and ABC produced a film about her work, ''Lady of the Spiders'', in 1981."Lady of the Spiders (1981)" British Film Institute.Hodgkin, Ernest P. (1995) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Spider Catalog
The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of individual web pages in 2000, created by Norman I. Platnick of the American Museum of Natural History. After Platnick's retirement in 2014, the Natural History Museum of Bern (Switzerland) took over the catalog, converting it to a relational database. , 50,151 accepted species were listed. The order Araneae Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ... (spiders) has the seventh-most species of all orders. The existence of the World Spider Catalog makes spiders the largest taxon with an online listing that is updated regularly. It ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missulena
''Missulena'' is a genus of mygalomorph spiders in the family Actinopodidae. It was first described by Charles Walckenaer in 1805, and is a senior synonym of ''Eriodon''. ''M. tussulena'' is found in Chile, but the rest are indigenous to Australia. They are sometimes referred to as "mouse spiders" from the now-disproven belief that they dig deep burrows similar to those of mice. ''Scotophaeus blackwalli'' is also called a "mouse spider", but it is smaller and not closely related. Description These spiders are medium to large in size, ranging from . They have a glossy carapace and high, broad heads with eyes spread out across the front of the head, and short spinnerets in the rear of the abdomen. They mostly prey on insects, though they may consume other small animals as opportunity presents. Their primary predators include wasps, centipedes, and scorpions. These spiders also exhibit sexual dimorphism. Females are entirely black, while males coloration is specific to eac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiders Of Australia
Australia has a number of highly venomous spiders, including the Sydney funnel-web spider, its relatives in the family Hexathelidae, and the redback spider, whose bites can be extremely painful and have historically been linked with deaths in medical records. Most Australian spiders do not have venom that is considered to be dangerously toxic. No deaths caused by spider bites in Australia have been substantiated by a coronial inquest since 1979. There are sensationalised news reports regarding Australian spiders that fail to cite evidence. ''A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia'' published by CSIRO Publishing in 2017 featuring around 836 species illustrated with photographs of live animals, around 381 genera and 78 families, introduced significant updates to taxonomy from Ramirez, Wheeler and Dmitrov Estimates put the total number of Australian spider species at about 10,000. Only around 3,600 have been described. Little information is known about many undiscovered species. New s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
