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Project Noah Nature School
Missulena occatoria
Found on Garden Island Western Australia. Very agressive
Spotted on Jul 3, 2013
Submitted on Jul 3, 2013
4 Comments
Yea i wrote to a bloke from the uni of wa this was his reply :Dear Jason,
Yes, this is certainly a male mouse spider, genus Missulena. The males commonly wander at this time of year in search of females, often during the day. They certainly do pack a powerful bite, so definitely avoid being bitten! But if you release him back into bushland he’ll wander off and find refuge out of harm’s way.
Best wishes,
Mike
-----
Dr. Michael G. Rix
Postdoctoral Fellow
Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Adelaide
North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Research Associate
Western Australian Museum
Mail to: Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, WA 6986
Phone: +61 8 9212 3865
Email: michael.rix@museum.wa.gov.au
What a spider! He's handsome and full of warning. Nice spotting, Jason!
Impressive spider! It looks similar to Genus Missulena. This one would be a male. His coloration doesn't match the Red-headed Mouse Spider but it looks related (unless younger ones don't have red heads, I don't know).
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Red-heade...
I found this one on a web search:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81552152@N0...
No species but it looks similar. Hope this helps.
This is the kind of spider i have in my nightmares.