Miturga lineata Thorell, 1870 Lined Prowling Hunter

Miturga lineata or a closely related species
Miturga lineata 7213 or a closely related species
Miturga lineata 7227 or a closely related species
Miturga lineata 7228 or a closely related species
Miturga lineata 4746 or a closely related species
Miturga lineata or a closely related species
Miturga lineata or a closely related species
Illustration by Koch

A common, widespread and abundant, medium-sized to large prowling spider in drier parts of coastal and inland Australia including Tasmania. Probably the most common Australian miturgid, with M. gilva also common and very similar but lacking the four lines running lengthways on the undersurface of the abdomen. M. lineata constructs a large retreat of dense white silk, in grass tussocks, hollows under rotting logs or in dense bushes close to the ground. The retreat is bag-like, up to 15cm long, with several openings, and may contained more than one egg sac. The egg sacs are round to oval, around 1.5cm in diameter, flatly domed, containing up to 100 off-white eggs, each around 1mm in diameter. These spiders are hard to see when camouflaged against dead grass. When the retreat is disturbed the female will rush out one of the openings and hide in nearby vegetation or debris. They are often mistaken for wolf spiders, belonging to the same superfamily Lycosoidea. ♀ 18mm ♂ 15mm