A bolas spider with the female much larger than the male, in forest habitats in eastern New South Wales and southern Queenland. Females are 10 to 14 mm body length and almost as wide, creamy-white in colour with a delicate pattern of pink and yellow spots on the abdomen and a crown of white and reddish tubercles on the head. Males are tiny, 1 to 2 mm body length. These spiders are active at night, with a simple web in trees or tall shrubs, rarely less than 2 metres above the ground. Their presence is usually indicated by a cluster of large, brown egg sacs hanging among foliage. The egg sacs are conspicuous, up to 5 cm long - many are targeted by flies and wasps that parasitise spiders' eggs. Up to 9 sacs may be made by a spider in a season, each with several hundred eggs. The male spiders mature within the egg sac, emerging with fully functional mating organs. At night the female spins a trapeze line from twigs above an open space in the branch or foliage. She hangs from this trapeze and spins into the space a short, single line of silk with a large droplet of very sticky silk, the bolas, at its end. The upper end of the line is held by the female's second leg. The spider emits an airborne pheromone attractive to male moths of the family Noctuidae. Vibration sensitive hairs on the spider's outstretched legs can sense the wing beats of an approaching moth. The spider begins to swing the bolas around in a circle beneath the moth until it is hit by the sticky bolas. It flutters in tethered flight while the spider hauls it in. The moth is then bitten, wrapped and either eaten or hung. Several moths may be caught in a night. Source: Mike Gray, Australian Museum.
Female from above
Female facing
Female from above
Closeup of face
Female from above
Female closeup
