Red Beer-bellied Spider
Size about 14mm, hence a very large spider. It was found in mangrove/open eucalypt forest habitat in the open. A caterpillar was crawling slowly across the web and the spider took some interest but - maybe due to being observed by me - was not extremely fast at catching up with the caterpillar. I didn't find a great match for this spider anywhere except for the first picture at http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1640. It does not show long jaws which excludes Tetragnathidae, a possible option. The spider is completely bright red-orange. It has a huge bend on its underside. The abdomen upperside shows some white markings. The thorax is flat and wide, has a clear red marking. Legs are very long and thin. They show darker red joints. Since I am not a spider expert chances are that this is a common species that simply eludes me so far. I doubt that it is a rare find, but it is probably not well represented on the web.
Read More- No Comments