Aname mainae

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 studied spiders, especially trapdoor spiders.

Found in the southwest of Western Australia. Also recorded in South Australia.

The spiders we saw had body lengths of approximately 40 millimetres.

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 envenomation has 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.

We have seen this spider in December, January, February and March.

Identification and information courtesy of Julianne Waldock, Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum

Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/c5309a4d-71b2-47b4-b1a1-5e7ab24d8df1