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Celaenia calotoides

1 Bird-dropping spider at Evatt, ACT

Celaenia calotoides at Evatt, ACT - 6 Dec 2013
Celaenia calotoides at Evatt, ACT - 6 Dec 2013
Celaenia calotoides at Evatt, ACT - 6 Dec 2013
Celaenia calotoides at Evatt, ACT - 6 Dec 2013
Celaenia calotoides at Evatt, ACT - 6 Dec 2013
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Identification history

Celaenia calotoides 12 Jul 2019 KimPullen
Unidentified 11 Jul 2019 TimL

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User's notes

An historical sighting from 2013 of a truly beautiful and remarkable female spider, which I think might have been Celaenia calotoides Rainbow. The spider was observed over a 4-month period during which time she constructed 5 of her sea-mine shaped eggsacs, made from silk and parts of a certain moth species, which I understand she caught by emitting pheromone mimicking chemicals. The first image shows her red head and eyes, with her long legs drawn together around her head. The second image shows her constructing an eggsac and the third image her dealing with one of the many moths she caught. The fourth image shows two of the completed eggsacs. At the bottom of the final image one of the many hatched spiderlings had spun a silk thread across the rear spines on her body and hung from it for several days. The spider was eventually killed by a White-tailed spider.

1 comment

GlennCocking wrote:
   20 Nov 2021
This is a Gelechioidea moth, quite different to the Noctuidae prey of Celaenia excavata.

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  • 12mm to 25mm Animal size

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