''Arachnura feredayi'', the tailed forest spider, is endemic to New Zealand. it is known for the distinctive tapering body shape in females which are also much larger than males, and for producing vertical columns of eggsacs in the 12 o'clock position in their webs.

Description

''Arachnura feredayi'' females reach up to 18 mm in length, with about a third of that length consisting of a tail-like ending of the abdomen. Colouring is variable, with yellow or yellow-green variants common. Males are much smaller (about 2 mm long), lack the female's 'tail' and are coloured in shades of brown. This species is most similar to ''

Arachnura higginsi ''Arachnura higginsi'', known as the tailed spider or scorpion tailed spider and the scorpion orb weaver, is a common Australia, Australian spider belonging to the family Araneidae. It occurs in many parts of Australia. Description and habit T ...

'' from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, but the two species can be separated by structural differences in the male palp and female epigynum. ''Arachnura higginsi'' has also been reported as making aggregations of distinct but connected webs, but this has not been observed in ''A. feredayi.''

Taxonomy

''Arachnura feredeyi'' was originally described by L. Koch in 1872 under the genus ''Epeira.'' It is the sole member of the genus recorded from New Zealand and is an endemic species. Urquhart described several species of ''

Arachnura ''Arachnura'', also known as drag-tailed spider, scorpion-tailed spider and scorpion spider, is a genus of Araneidae, orb-weaver spiders that was first described by A. Vinson in 1863. They are distributed across Australasia, South Asia, Southern ...

'' but these were synonmised (see Synonyms) by

Bryant Bryant may refer to: Organizations * Bryant Bank, a bank in Alabama, United States * Bryant Electric Company, an American manufacturer of electrical components * Bryant Homes, a British house builder, part of Taylor Woodrow * Bryant University ...

in 1933. The Australian and New Zealand species of ''Arachnura'' were revised by Castanheira ''et al.'' in 2019.

Biology

Tailed forest spiders make an

orb web A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning "spider") is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spid ...

, usually close to the ground. This web always has a V-shaped sector in the 12 o'clock position that is empty of spiral threads. This is where the female will deposit her eggsacs in a vertical column resembling a chain of sausage links. The newest eggsac is located nearest to the web's central hub and the female rebuilds her web every time she produces a new eggsac in order to maintain this positioning.

Distribution

These spiders are found in forests and gardens. They are only found in New Zealand and have been recorded from Manawatāwhi , Three Kings Islands, the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

and the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

Conservation Status

This species has been listed as Not Threatened under the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS).

References

External links

* The tailed forest spider was featured on Radio New Zealand's Critter of the Week o
November 26, 2021
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4289017 Araneidae Spiders of Australia Spiders of New Zealand