Sydney funnel-web spider
The Sydney funnel-web spider is a big, shiny, dark spider that lives around the city of Sydney in Australia. It lives in a silk-lined tunnel in damp ground, with silk trip-lines spread out around the door. When an animal walks over a line, the spider rushes out to catch it.
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Fun facts
Its name robustus means strong and sturdy.
It can survive up to 24 hours under water by trapping air bubbles in the hairs on its body.
In warm months the males go wandering to find females, and sometimes end up in gardens, houses or swimming pools.
It comes out at night, because the daytime is too dry and hot for it.
Most asked questions about Sydney funnel-web spider
?Where do Sydney funnel-web spiders live?
In eastern Australia around Sydney, in damp places under logs, rocks and leaves.
?How big is a Sydney funnel-web spider?
Its body is 1 to 5 centimetres long, and its legs are about 6 to 7 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Atrax robustus
- Named by
- Pickard-Cambridge, 1877
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Atracidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Atracidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Sydney funnel-web spider (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Sputniktilt. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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