Grey House Spider

Description:

Introduced species found throughout New Zealand. Native to Australia. Medium–sized spider. Body length about 15 mm.The female spider never leaves her web unless forced to, but keeps on repairing it - old webs look untidy , grey and woolly from constant additions of silk. It hunts only at night. Hides in a retreat at the base of the web till an insect is caught in the web. Eats anything caught in the web, – blowflies, houseflies, beetles and moths.

Habitat:

This species is commonly found in retreats of leaves and tangled webbing in green shrubs, tree trunks, logs, It is also found in buildings and on car bodies rock walls and buildings (in window frames, wall crevices, etc).

Notes:

Badumna longinqua itself is the favourite food of the whitetail spider