''Illawarra'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

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 ...

s containing the single species ''Illawarra wisharti''. It was first described by Michael R. Gray in 2010, and has only been found in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

region of southern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. It is a member of the subfamily Atracinae, the Australian funnel-web spiders, a number of whose species produce

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

that is dangerous to humans. The generic name is based on the

region where the spider was found. The species name ''wisharti'' honours Graeme Wishart, who collected many mygalomorph spiders in that region.

Description

Mature males have an overall body length of about , with the

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

and

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. ...

being of roughly equal length. The carapace length averages about , with a range of . The fourth leg is the longest at about in total. Individuals are basically brown, with an obvious pattern of narrow chevrons on the abdomen. Females are of a similar size and overall appearance. They are said to have an "ant-like" smell. Males differ from those of the other members of the subfamily Atracinae by the presence of a broad row of spines in the middle of the underside ( ventral side) of the tarsi of all four legs. Females can be distinguished by the first leg, which lacks spines, has the metatarsus partly fused to the tarsus, and also has enlarged tarsal claws. It lives in burrows in the ground litter layer or under rocks.

Venom

A study of the

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...

s in atracine spider venom in 2001 found that ''Illawarra wisharti'' venom had a similar profile to that of ''Atrax robustus'', a species known to have caused dangerous envenomation effects in humans. However, ''I. wisharti'' is not one of the six atracine species listed as dangerous.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q98843, from2=Q19593791 Atracidae Spiders described in 2010 Spiders of Australia