Asianopis subrufa
Common name: Common Net-casting Spider
Asianopis is a combination of the word Asia, referring to the distribution and the genus Deinopis. Subrufa is Latin for slightly reddish.
Reported from around Australia.
This spider has a body length of approximately 25 millimetres.
Spiders in the genus Asianopis are net-casting spiders. The net which Asianopis makes is specially constructed so that it can be stretched. The spider hangs face-down over an area that some insects might walk, and it holds the net ready with its front legs. It then patiently waits for a critter to walk underneath it.
Once something wanders within range the whole net-cast-catch thing is over in less than a second. It lunges towards the critter and wraps the sticky net over it. The prey is quickly overwhelmed.
We have seen this spider in January, June and December.
Identification courtesy of David Knowles.
Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/a660f323-dcc2-484c-b2e2-678fd78ea7eb
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asianopis_subrufa
Nature Stuff http://www.mdavid.com.au/spiders/netcasters.shtml
Arachne.org.au http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1528
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