The funnel-web spider is a famous resident of Sydney, Australia. This highly venomous spider makes funnel-shaped burrows lined with silk. No one is known to have died from a funnel-web bite since the introduction of an antivenom in 1981.
A recent study reveals that there are actually three distinct species of funnel-web spiders in the Sydney and Newcastle area of New South Wales. The biggest of these is the Newcastle Big Boy, whose scientific name is Atrax christenseni.
“You would think we would’ve had the Sydney funnel-web spider’s diversity and evolution figured out because it’s such a charismatic animal, but it just goes to show that for most of arthropods, we know so little,” study lead author Stephanie Loria, formerly a researcher at the Museum of Nature in Hamburg, Germany, told Mongabay.
Read more about this news story on Mongabay News.
