''Nicodamus peregrinus'', known as the red and black spider, is a spider found in eastern and southern

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 ...

. Unlike the redback spider (''Latrodectus hasseltii''), the bright red coloration does not appear to warn of significant danger to humans. Food is a variety of small insects. They have been recorded in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Description and egg sac

Usually found under bark, fallen trees or stones close to the ground. Legs are red and black. The

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

is red, the abdomen is black or sometimes a dark blue. Palps are red and black. Body length of males is 8 to 10 mm, females 12 to 14 mm. The egg sac is 10 to 20 mm in diameter and contains from 30 to 50 cream eggs, 1 mm in diameter. The sac is

plano-convex Plano-convex may refer to: * Plano-convex lens, in optics * Plano-convex, a type of mudbrick A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or ...

in shape, consisting of white fluffy silk, placed in a sheltered area such as under bark. Near continual courtship and mating have been observed when in captivity, resulting in the exhaustive death of the males. These spiders tend to wave their forelegs in the air while walking, and the males tap the ground with their palps.

Naming & taxonomy

This spider belongs to the family Nicodamidae. However, it has also been placed in the families Theridiidae,

Agelenidae The Agelenidae are a large family of spiders in the suborder Araneomorphae. Well-known examples include the common "grass spiders" of the genus ''Agelenopsis''. Nearly all Agelenidae are harmless to humans, but the bite of the hobo spider (''Erat ...

and Zodariidae. It was originally named by the French arachnologist Charles Walckenaer as ''Theridion peregrinum'' in 1841. However, there have been several name changes and synonymisations. The most recent being in 1995, after a revision of the family Nicodamidae, when the name ''Centropelma bicolor''was synonymised with ''Nicodamus peregrinus''. Walckenaer's original specific epithet ''peregrinum'' refers to the wandering nature of the spider.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5516593 Nicodamidae Spiders of Australia Spiders described in 1841