Aname mainaeCommon name: Black Wish-bone Spider
Meaning of name: No one knows what the name “Aname” refers to as this name was coined in 1873 and the author did not give a meaning. However, the species, A. mainae, was named in honour of Barbara York Main, who studies spiders, especially trapdoor spiders.
Distribution: Found in the southwest of Western Australia. Also recorded in South Australia.
Description: The spiders we saw had body lengths of approximately 40 millimetres.
Notes: This spider is a type of trapdoor spider but doesn’t use a typical lid on its burrow. It constructs a flexible sock-like flap that the spider can pull down when it is not active.
Black wish-bone spiders rarely bite humans and no serious envenomations have been reported.
Wish-bone spiders are called such because of the design of their burrows. The burrows usually have two entrances but join together underground, forming a Y, or wish-bone, shape.
Watch a video of this spider, recorded in the Queens Park Regional Open Space, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VUF_HLrCRo&feature=youtu.be
This spider has been seen in December, January, February and March.
References: Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:662b98bb-bd69-4b95-8c80-6a13d60c2d7d#overview
http://www.ces.csiro.au/aicn/name_s/b_212.htm
Identification and information courtesy of Julianne Waldock, Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum
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In this image you can see the small pedicel joining the cephalothorax to the abdomen.
Photograph courtesy of Ry Beaver.
This beetle strayed too close to a spider burrow and is being pulled in.
