Awesome Australian spiders.

Being Australian you often hear people from overseas talking about our spiders and how dangerous and creepy and yes we do have some of the most venomous spiders in the world, however only one person has died from a spider bite in Australia since 1981, which was an unfortunate case in April of 2016 where a man was bitten during a bushwalk by the infamous Red back.

Here is a list of some of our most dangerous and well known spiders.

This creepy thing is the Sydney funnel web spider, known for its large fangs and highly toxic venom it is easily the most dangerous spider in Australia and possibly even the world. The Sydney funnel web can be found in backyards or forested areas and prefer to reside in humid sheltered spots. I personally have never seen one as I live further south than their natural habitat but they are known to be quite aggressive, especially if threatened.

The funnel web spiders fangs are actually larger than that of the very deadly brown snake(another Aussie beauty ) and have been known to be able to pierce toenails. There are actually 40 different species of funnel web spiders in Australia but the most dangerous of these live around the north eastern states. There aren't a large number of reported bites and an antivenom for these has been available since 1980 with 0 recorded deaths since 1979.

In fact almost all recorded cases of bites by funnel webs have been by "wandering males" during warmer months when searching for a mate. lucky for us summer is just around the corner hey.

Up next is the very well known and often scariest ( to Australian residents) Red back spider. The red back spider is actually quite small and easily identified by the red stripe on their bulbous looking back. The Female red-back is the one you really need to watch out for and are usually slightly larger than the males, however their fangs are quite small which makes many of their human bites ineffective. There are around 2000 recorded bites per year however most of these don't even require an antivenom to be administered.

Red-backs love hiding out in backyard sheds, around dead wood and alarmingly enough under toilet seats, which made outhouses (an outdoor bathroom) the perfect hiding spot for these cheeky little buggers. A red back spider is the only spider to have caused a human death since 1981, this was during a bush-walk when a young man was bitten, he was taken to hospital where he had to have an abcyss under his arm drained and then was given antibiotics and sent home. he died 3 days later and it is believed he hadn't been administered the antivenom which has been available since the 1950's.

This ugly fellow is known as a white-tailed spider and is personally my least favorite of all our spiders. They are found in most southern parts of Australia and enjoy living anywhere from the bush to your clothes ( i actually had one fall out of my hair a few weeks ago at work). They have a reputation for having necrotic venom which means it eats away at your skin but there isn't actually scientific evidence to prove this and some believe the spiders have been blamed for hard to diagnose skin ulcers.

As their name suggests they can usually be identified by a white spot on the lowest part of the back. unlike alot of our species of spider white tails go hunting for their food rather than lying in wait and enjoy feeding on other spiders like the red-back or daddy long-legs.

One of our most famous and also supposedly scariest spiders is the Huntsman spider, This scary looking arachnid is actually a big wuss when it comes to humans. Huntsman spiders can be found in all parts of Australia and like to inhabit dry wooded areas and backyards. They are one of the largest species of spiders known and can move at very fast speed if threatened or chasing prey. They seem to enjoy coming indoors and can often be found in corners of rooms and cupboards. Despite their fearsome appearance huntsman spiders have no venom to humans and pose us no real threat though if bitten it has been described as very painful. They are similar in appearance to a wolf spider although larger and wolf spiders are known to be quite aggressive which may contribute to their misrepresentation.

Huntsman spiders are actually quite useful and personally if i find one in my house i prefer to leave them there than to relocate them outside as they do a very good job of ridding your house of other spiders and insects. They're basically big mean looking flytraps but will run away if startled.

Australia has many more interesting creepy and dangerous spiders but these are the most well known.
some others include garden orb weaver spider, trap-door spider, recluse spider and our own genus of tarantulas.
As with all spiders it is best to avoid them if possible but at the same time there is a common saying that you are never more than 2m from a spider at any given time anywhere in Australia (except maybe the desert). One of the things i do for work is building fences and i come across at least 5-10 a day of varying species as they love the old rotting timber, however in 5 years i have not once been bitten by a spider even though as i mentioned earlier i have had one fall out of my hair and have found them crawling around on my legs. I used to be very very scared of spiders but over the last 10 years that fear has dwindled dramatically, im still not a huge fan and it creeps me out if i find one on my person but for the most part ive come to accept these 8 legged freaks as just another awesome part of the world and they're actually incredibly interesting creatures.

All images have been found on google and most of the information is what i personally know however i did back some of it up with a quick wikipedia search and using the below article.
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2012/08/australian-spiders-the-10-most-dangerous
It is a good quick read for anyone interested in some of the other species of spider we have.