 Queensland alert over giant funnel-web s |
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By: salem_blackcat4
7/11/2009
4:59 am Yahoo! Profile:
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sightings.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,2 6310611-3102,00.html
SOUTHEAST Queenslanders should be on the lookout for large black funnel-web spiders as big as an adult hand.
As the hot, humid weather arrives, the potentially deadly spiders are on the move, with the first reports of the season this week.
Queensland Museum senior curator Robert Raven said yesterday sightings of male funnel-webs had been confirmed at Mt Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland and Mt Glorious, west of Brisbane.
With summer temperatures and rain, male funnel-webs would be active until at least March or April.
Pictures: Creepy crawliesMales often wandered at night searching for females, especially during rain. They are black, long legged and will rear quickly into an attack position, with front legs raised, fangs at the ready and tipped with venom.
Any bite should be treated with utmost care and they should not be handled.
"If the victim has been envenomed (and not simply bitten, the spider controls which), they will very quickly experience severe systemic distress, including laboured breathing, vomiting, pupils fixed and dilated," Dr Raven said.
Funnel-webs are found in or near southeast and northern NSW rainforests. They also occur in Brisbane suburbs near to dense bush, such as The Gap, Kedron Brook, Mt Coot-tha, Bardon, Kenmore, Brookfield, Pullenvale, Springwood, Rochedale and Capalaba and Mt Cotton in Redland City.
They also are found at Mt Tamborine, Lamington Plateau, Conondale, D'Aguilar and the Border Ranges, Cunningham's Gap and especially around Maleny, Nambour, Fraser Island and as far north as Gladstone.
Dr Raven said care should be taken to ensure spiders cannot climb on to beds by making certain bedding does not touch the floor or legs of beds.
They often hide in downpipes blocked with leaves. |
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By: aussiearisen
7/11/2009
8:54 am Yahoo! Profile:
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"They often hide in downpipes blocked with leaves."
Just what we don`t need, when we`re up on a ladder & can`t move very quickly. |
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By: frenchyjen70
7/11/2009
9:31 am Yahoo! Profile:
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| as far north as gladstone? are these the sydney funnel webs? i thought the qld ones weren't deadly? |
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By: salem_blackcat4
7/11/2009
1:53 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| No, the Sydney ones don't migrate that far. There's the Toowoomba Funnelweb which is said to be far more toxic than the Sydney Funnelweb, about by 3 times, if memory serves. There's also the tree Funnelweb up here, and a Brisbane Funnelweb (not sure of the exact name). They are all deadly Funnelwebs, but the Toowoomba one is meant to be the deadliest one of all, according to scientists a few years ago. |
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By: frenchyjen70
7/11/2009
3:35 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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http://www.csiro.au/resources/Funnelweb-Spider-Fac ts.html
"Bites by males of two large species, the Sydney funnel-web and northern tree funnel-web, have resulted in death".
the qld one must be the northern tree one??
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Funnel-web-Spiders- group
"The largest of all funnel-webs is the Northern Tree Funnel-web Spider, Hadronyche formidabilis, reaching 4 cm - 5 cm body length. These spiders live in the wet forests of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland and have been found over 30 m above ground. While many have their retreats in surface-opening branch rot-holes, some spiders appear to live and feed entirely inside the deadwood pipe of large forest trees like Tallow-wood, feeding on beetles and other insects inside this rotting wood habitat" |
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By: sandpants66
7/11/2009
9:28 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| yea the toowoomba one is the worst, make sure u check ur boots before u slip them on! |
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By: busty.stclaire
8/11/2009
9:15 am Yahoo! Profile:
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"Just what we don`t need, when we`re up on a ladder & can`t move very quickly"
AA: Hahahahahhaha, sorry, but could you set up a camera next time you venture up?? :P |
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Queensland alert over giant funnel-web s |
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