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Australomisdia cruentata (Koch 1874) Blood spattered Diaea

A small Thomisid officially recorded for NSW and Victoria but certainly more widespread. Specimens have been collected in Brisbane and on North Stradbroke Island. It is an ambush hunter, usually in flowers. This spider is wrongly identified on page 105 of Mascord's 1980 book Spiders of Australia, as Xysticus bilimbatus. He notes that in New South Wales it is mostly found on the flowers of Pultenaea spp. The egg sac is a small chamber made by fastening together the flowers with silk. When the eggs are laid the spider stays with them in the chamber, probably hunting from the entrance, grabbing small insects attracted to the flowers. The name cruentata means blood spattered. The genus was changed to Australomisidia Pawel Szymkowiak in 2014 the name being a combination of two words: Australia and Thomisidae. Pawel's monograph featured a photo of this species by Robert Whyte on the cover. ♀ 5mm ♂ 4mm

From above

Xysticus bilimbatus
Photo: Robert Whyte

Facing


Xysticus bilimbatus
Photo: Robert Whyte

From above

Xysticus bilimbatus
Photo: Robert Whyte

Another specimen, Jevons Street park


Body length about 4mm, collected 23 December 2009 at Jevons Street Park, Walton Bridge Reserve, The Gap.

Xysticus bilimbatus
Photo: Robert Whyte

Another specimen, Jevons Street park


Posing on the leaf of a Tahitian Lime. It was on a Grevillea when it was collected.

Xysticus bilimbatus
Photo: Robert Whyte

 
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