Avondale Spider
: Animalia : Arthropoda : Arachnida : Araneae : Selenops : Delena : Cancerides
Binomial name
Delena cancerides Walckenaer, 1837

The Avondale Spider is a large, brown spider originally found in the Avondale area of New Zealand, and its range now extends into the Waitakere area.

They are an Australian species, accidentally introduced to New Zealand in 1924 in shipments of hardwood logs. They achieved fame in the 1990 movie Arachnophobia which used 374 of these impressive spiders. The body of the spider may be up to 30mm long, is light brown and covered in dense, fine hairs. The legs are also hairy, and can span up to 200mm. Large specimens are not unusual.

Delena cancerides has been well characterised chromosomally and allozymically, and is particularly unusual as it possesses a number of distinct chromosomal races that differ by carrying different combinations of chromosomal fusions. This useful marker made it possible to determine from where in Australia it originated. Several of the chromosomal races can hybridise and produce fertile offspring, resulting in distinctive hybrid zones. In the best studied of these, animals can have anything from 22 to 43 chromosomes and produce viable sperm.

The spiders will co-exist socially, and are often found under loose bark and in woodpiles in colonies up to 300. They hunt their food rather than spin webs for it. Though non-poisonous, they scare the daylights out of even the mildest arachnophobes, and it is just as well that they seldom venture indoors.

External links

• Manaaki Whenua (Landcare Research) Bug Identification page
• Spiders of Australia - Huntsman Family Heteropodidae (formerly Sparassidae)