White-tailed spider

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iWhite-tailed spider

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneida
Family:	Lamponidae
Genus:	Lampona
Species:	L. cylindrata L. murina

Binomial name

Lampona cylindrata
L. Koch, 1866

Lampona murina
L. Koch, 1873

The white-tailed spider, (common species are Lampona cylindrata, Lampona murina) are a medium-sized spider from southern and eastern Australia, so named because of the whitish tips at the end of their abdomens. The eastern and southern species are the most common species, both are similar in shape and colour. This has lead people to think there is only a single white tail spider. In truth it is highly probably that not all white tail species have been identified. The phrase white tail can be thought more accurately as a range of spiders all sharing a trade mark white mark on their tails.

They have been introduced to New Zealand where they are considered a household pest.

White-tailed spider females are up to 18mm long, males up to 12mm. They live in gardens and houses, beneath bark and rocks, in leaf litter and so on. They are able to walk on glass, due to specialized hairs on the end of their legs. Most active at night, they hunt for other spiders. Their favoured prey is the Black house spider.

Its bite has been implicated in cases of arachnogenic necrosis, though the link is controversial. Recent studies monitoring 130 cases had no such incidents, leaving researchers to believe that such cases are rare rather than a common outcome for a White-tailed spider bite.

By comparison with other well-known Australian spiders, White-tailed spiders do not appear to be particularly numerous, but may be responsible for a disproportionately high number of spider-bites because of their habits. Unlike the Black House spider and the Red Back which are often seen in or around dwellings in a web, the White-tailed spider wanders around and may be encountered unexpectedly. Of the 130 recently-monitored cases, several spiders had been picked up off the floor accidentally by short sighted persons thinking that they were something else. More than 60% of the victims had been bitten by spiders that had got into clothing, into folded towels and into beds. In several more cases they were in shoes. The young spider in the image to the right is on a bath towel.

Information on the White-tail species is limited as they are only found in Australia and New Zealand with only a limited number of researchers working in the field.