Australia is well known for its rich diversity of spiders, many of which are uniquely adapted to the continent’s varied environments. These arachnids come in a wide range of sizes, colors, and behaviors, reflecting the country’s mix of deserts, rainforests, grasslands, and coastal regions. Their adaptability allows them to thrive in both natural and human-altered landscapes.
They can be found almost everywhere across the country, from dense tropical forests in the north to dry inland deserts and temperate southern regions. Many live in leaf litter, under rocks, or within tree bark, while others inhabit caves, burrows, or vegetation. It is also common to encounter them in suburban gardens, sheds, and inside homes, especially in warmer seasons.
Australian spiders have diverse hunting strategies that help them capture prey efficiently. Some build intricate webs to trap flying insects, while others rely on speed, stealth, or ambush tactics. Their diet mainly consists of insects and other small invertebrates, making them important natural pest controllers in both wild and urban environments.
Although Australia has a reputation for dangerous wildlife, most spiders found there are not harmful to humans. Many prefer to avoid contact and will retreat when disturbed. Bites are relatively rare and usually occur only when the spider feels threatened. In most cases, the effects are mild, though caution is still advised when handling or encountering them.
Spiders of Australia
Sydney Funnel-Web Spider (Atrax robustus)
Widely regarded as one of the most dangerous spiders in the world, the Sydney Funnel-Web Spider is a large, glossy black spider with powerful fangs capable of penetrating fingernails. It is found primarily in a 100-kilometre radius around Sydney, New South Wales, inhabiting moist, sheltered habitats such as rainforest margins, suburban gardens, rockeries, and logs.
Males wander during warm, humid nights in search of females and are the more dangerous of the two sexes, producing a venom far more toxic to humans than the female’s.
Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti)
The Redback Spider is arguably Australia’s most notorious spider and one of its most widely distributed. Recognizable by the distinctive red or orange stripe on the female’s dark, pea-shaped abdomen, it is found across virtually the entire Australian continent, from tropical Queensland to the deserts of Western Australia and the cold highlands of Victoria and Tasmania.
It thrives in disturbed urban environments, making its messy, tangled webs in garden sheds, letterboxes, outdoor furniture, and under rocks and logs.
Huntsman Spider (Isopoda immanis / Holconia spp.)
Australia is home to numerous huntsman spider species, collectively among the most commonly encountered spiders in the country. Large, flat-bodied, and extremely fast, huntsmen are found across all Australian states and territories, inhabiting rainforests, woodlands, suburban gardens, and the interiors of homes and cars.
They shelter under bark, in rock crevices, and behind wall hangings, emerging at night to hunt cockroaches and other insects. Despite their intimidating size and speed, they are largely harmless to humans.
White-tailed Spider (Lampona cylindrata & Lampona murina)
The White-tailed Spider is a slender, dark grey spider immediately identified by the distinctive white spot at the tip of its cylindrical abdomen. It is found across southern and eastern Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, inhabiting forests, grasslands, and suburban homes.
A roving hunter that preys specifically on other spiders, it does not build a web but instead wanders at night, often entering homes where it hides in clothing, shoes, and bedding.
Mouse Spider (Missulena spp.)
Mouse Spiders are robust, heavily built spiders related to funnel-webs and found across mainland Australia in a wide variety of habitats, from coastal forests to arid inland deserts. The male of Missulena occatoria, the Red-headed Mouse Spider, is one of Australia’s most striking spiders, with a vivid red head and jet-black body.
They construct burrows with distinctive plug-like doors and are most often encountered when males wander in search of females, particularly after rain. Their venom is potentially dangerous to humans, though envenomation is rarely severe.
Eastern Trapdoor Spider (Misgolas spp.)
The Eastern Trapdoor Spider is a large, brown, thick-legged burrowing spider found throughout eastern Australia, from Queensland down through New South Wales and into Victoria. It constructs a silk-lined burrow with a distinctive hinged trapdoor made of soil, moss, and silk, which it holds shut from beneath while waiting for passing prey.
These spiders can live for over twenty years, with females rarely leaving their burrows. They are often confused with funnel-web spiders but are far less dangerous.
St. Andrew’s Cross Spider (Argiope keyserlingi)
Named for the bold X-shaped stabilimentum of white silk it weaves into the centre of its orb web, the St. Andrew’s Cross Spider is a vividly coloured species with yellow, white, black, and red banding on its abdomen. It is commonly found along the eastern coast of Australia, from Queensland to New South Wales and Victoria, inhabiting gardens, bushland, and forest margins.
The female sits at the centre of her web with her legs arranged in pairs along the arms of the cross, enhancing the visual effect of the stabilimentum.
Garden Orb-Weaver (Eriophora transmarina)
The Garden Orb-Weaver is one of the most frequently encountered spiders in Australian gardens and bushland along the eastern and southern coastlines. A medium to large spider with a rounded, reddish-brown or grey abdomen patterned with leaf-like markings, it builds large, circular webs at night in doorways, between shrubs, and across garden paths.
By morning, it retreats to a hidden daytime resting spot, leaving only the silk framework of its web. It is completely harmless to humans and a highly beneficial garden resident.
Golden Orb-Weaver (Nephila edulis)
The Golden Orb-Weaver is one of Australia’s largest and most impressive spiders, with the female reaching a body length of up to five centimetres. Found across eastern, northern, and central Australia in warm, open woodland, forest edges, and shrubland, she constructs enormous, extraordinarily strong golden-silk webs that can span over a metre.
The golden hue of her silk attracts bees and other insects. Tiny males cluster around the periphery of the female’s web, dwarfed by her massive frame.
Net-casting Spider (Dolomedes spp. / Deinopis subrufa)
The Net-casting Spider, also known as the Ogre-faced Spider, is a uniquely fascinating species found across eastern Australia in rainforest margins, moist woodlands, and suburban gardens from Queensland to Victoria. It has extraordinarily large posterior eyes — the largest simple eyes of any spider — which give it exceptional night vision.
Rather than waiting passively in a web, it constructs a small rectangular net of hackled silk and actively hurls it over passing insects on the ground or in the air, a hunting technique unlike any other spider.
Daddy Long-legs Spider (Pholcus phalangioides)
The Daddy Long-legs Spider is one of the most universally familiar spiders in Australia, found in homes, garages, and outbuildings throughout the entire country. It constructs a loose, irregular, three-dimensional web in corners, under eaves, and in dark ceiling spaces, where it hangs upside down for days on end.
Despite a popular myth claiming it is the world’s most venomous spider, its venom poses no significant threat to humans. It is actually an important controller of other household spiders, including redbacks, which it can successfully subdue and consume.
Funnel-Web Spider — Tree-dwelling (Hadronyche spp.)
Australia hosts over 35 species of funnel-web spiders beyond the famous Sydney Funnel-Web, many of which belong to the Hadronyche genus and are tree-dwelling rather than ground-burrowing.
Species such as the Southern Tree Funnel-Web (Hadronyche cerberea) and the Port Macquarie Funnel-Web are found in coastal and highland rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland. They construct their distinctive funnel-shaped silk retreats in tree hollows, under bark, and among epiphytic plants, making them harder to encounter than their ground-dwelling relatives.
Banded Huntsman (Holconia immanis)
The Banded Huntsman is one of Australia’s largest huntsman species, with a legspan that can exceed 15 centimetres. It is found in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, predominantly in forested areas where it shelters under the bark of large trees.
Its grey-brown body is marked with longitudinal banding on the abdomen, and like all huntsmans, it is a swift and capable hunter that pursues insects and small lizards. It frequently enters homes in search of prey and shelter, causing considerable alarm despite its harmless nature.
Wolf Spider (Lycosa spp.)
Wolf Spiders are a large and diverse family represented by dozens of species across Australia, found in virtually every habitat on the continent — from beachside dunes and grasslands to alpine meadows and arid desert plains. Unlike most spiders, wolf spiders do not spin catching webs but instead actively chase down their prey on the ground.
Female wolf spiders carry their egg sac attached to their spinnerets and, uniquely among spiders, carry their spiderlings on their back after hatching. Their large, reflective eyes make them easy to spot at night with a torch.
Jumping Spider (Salticidae family)
Australia is home to hundreds of jumping spider species within the family Salticidae, found in every state and territory from tropical rainforests to dry outback scrubland. These small, compact, often brightly coloured spiders are celebrated for their extraordinary vision — they possess four pairs of eyes, with the large, forward-facing principal eyes providing near-human levels of acuity.
Jumping spiders stalk their prey like cats, calculating the distance before leaping with great precision. Many Australian species, particularly in the Mopsus and Maratus genera, are breathtakingly coloured.
Peacock Spider (Maratus spp.)
The Peacock Spider is perhaps Australia’s most celebrated and beloved arachnid — a tiny jumping spider whose males perform one of the most extraordinary courtship displays in the animal kingdom. Found primarily in southern and eastern Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, males raise a brilliantly coloured, fan-like abdominal flap during courtship and vibrate their legs in an elaborate dance.
New species are discovered regularly, and the genus has attracted a global following of enthusiasts captivated by their jewel-like colours and intricate patterns.
Lace-Web Spider (Badumna insignis)
The Lace-Web Spider is one of the most commonly encountered spiders in southeastern Australian gardens and homes. Found predominantly in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and the ACT, it constructs a characteristic lacy, funnel-shaped web with a distinctive irregular outer lace pattern in wall crevices, rockeries, window frames, and under eaves.
Its dark brown to black body with pale markings makes it relatively easy to identify. It has been accidentally introduced to parts of New Zealand, Europe, and North America through the horticultural trade.
Trap-door Spider (Aganippe spp.)
The Aganippe trapdoor spiders are a diverse genus of Australian burrowing spiders found across the southern half of the continent, including Western Australia, South Australia, and the southern regions of New South Wales and Victoria.
They construct silk-lined burrows sealed with a wafer-thin trapdoor made from layers of soil, silk, and plant material, camouflaged to blend perfectly with the surrounding ground. These long-lived spiders can remain in the same burrow for decades and are rarely seen above ground except when males wander in search of mates.
Flower Spider (Thomisus spectabilis)
The Flower Spider is a beautiful and widespread crab spider found throughout eastern and northern Australia, from Queensland and the Northern Territory to New South Wales. It inhabits flowering plants in gardens, bushland, and rainforest margins, where its white-to-yellow body provides near-perfect camouflage among petals.
It sits with legs outstretched and waits motionlessly for visiting bees, flies, and butterflies, seizing them with a rapid, venomous bite that immobilizes prey almost instantly, often catching insects far larger than itself.
Two-spined Spider (Poecilopachys australasia)
The Two-spined Spider is a small, distinctively shaped orb-weaver found along the eastern coast of Australia, from Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria. The female is easily identified by the two long, curved spines projecting from the rear of her abdomen, which give her a remarkable appearance.
She builds a small, neat orb web in garden shrubs and forest understorey plants, usually at low heights, and rests at the centre during the day. Her unusual spines are thought to make her less appealing as prey to birds.
Scorpion-tailed Spider (Arachnura melanura)
The Scorpion-tailed Spider is one of Australia’s most bizarre and captivating orb-weavers, found in Queensland, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory in rainforest margins, wet woodland, and gardens. The female possesses an extraordinary elongated, whip-like tail on her abdomen that she curls upward like a scorpion’s sting.
This remarkable appendage, combined with her yellow and brown colouring, allows her to mimic dried leaves, plant debris, or insect egg masses with startling effectiveness. She rests motionlessly in her web by day, relying on her disguise for protection.
Spiny Spider (Austracantha minax)
The Spiny Spider, also known as the Christmas Spider or Jewel Spider, is one of Australia’s most ornate and recognizable spiders. Found across all mainland states, it is particularly abundant in eastern and southern Australian woodlands and heath during the warmer months of November and December.
Its hard, shell-like abdomen is white or yellow with bold black markings and six dramatic spiny projections. It builds neat, circular orb webs between shrubs and trees, often in large aggregations where dozens of webs can be found in close proximity.
Long-jawed Water Spider (Tetragnatha spp.)
Long-jawed Water Spiders are elegant, slender orb-weavers found near streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands across most of Australia. Their extraordinarily elongated bodies, chelicerae, and legs allow them to stretch out along grass stems and reeds in a stick-like posture that makes them almost invisible.
They build small, horizontal or slightly inclined orb webs over or near water and are capable swimmers, able to walk across water surfaces and dive beneath to escape predators. Multiple species are distributed across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia.
Black House Spider (Badumna insignis)
The Black House Spider is found throughout eastern Australia and has also been introduced to New Zealand. It inhabits the dark recesses of window frames, wall crevices, tree bark, and rock faces, where it constructs a messy, funnel-shaped web with a distinctive irregular lace-like outer sheet.
The spider shelters in the funnel retreat and rushes out to subdue prey that becomes entangled in the outer web. Females remain in the same web for years, continuously adding silk and repairing damage, resulting in large, untidy accumulations of grey silk.
Northern Tree Funnel-Web (Hadronyche formidabilis)
The Northern Tree Funnel-Web is found in the rainforests and moist eucalyptus forests of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. It is one of the larger funnel-web species, with females reaching a body length of up to five centimetres, and unlike most funnel-webs it constructs its silken retreat in tree hollows and buttress roots rather than in the ground.
It is considered medically significant, and its remoteness in dense rainforest habitat means encounters with humans are relatively uncommon but should be treated with caution.
Water Spider (Dolomedes spp.)
The Dolomedes fishing spiders are large, semi-aquatic spiders found near freshwater habitats throughout Australia, including rivers, streams, ponds, and coastal wetlands. They are remarkable hunters that rest on the water surface with their front legs touching the water, detecting the vibrations of tadpoles, small fish, and aquatic insects through the surface tension.
When prey is detected, the spider lunges forward and seizes it with its fangs. Several species are found along the eastern and southeastern coasts and in Tasmania, particularly in areas of cool, clear-running water.
Brush-footed Trapdoor Spider (Idiommata spp.)
The Brush-footed Trapdoor Spiders of the genus Idiommata are large, handsome burrowing spiders found in the drier inland and southern regions of Western Australia and South Australia.
They construct deep, silk-lined burrows in sandy or clay soils, sealed with a thin, wafer-like trapdoor. Their common name comes from the dense brush of fine hair on their front legs, which may assist in detecting vibrations or digging. They are long-lived, slow-maturing spiders that are rarely encountered due to their cryptic, subterranean lifestyle.
Magnificent Spider (Ordgarius magnificus)
The Magnificent Spider is a small but extraordinary orb-weaver found in eastern Australia, particularly along the coastal rainforests and wet forests of Queensland and New South Wales. Rather than building a conventional orb web, it constructs a highly unusual bolas-style trap — a single thread of silk tipped with a sticky globule that mimics the sex pheromone of certain moths.
The spider swings this lure in circles to attract male moths, catching them with the adhesive ball. It is one of very few spiders to use chemical mimicry as a hunting strategy.
Red-and-black Spider (Nicodamus peregrinus)
The Red-and-black Spider is a striking small spider found in eastern Australia, predominantly in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, inhabiting moist forests, rainforest margins, and sheltered gullies. Its appearance — a glossy black cephalothorax and vivid red abdomen — closely mimics the coloration of the dangerous Redback Spider, a case of Batesian mimicry that may discourage predators.
It constructs a small, irregular web under logs, rocks, and bark in cool, damp microhabitats and is harmless to humans despite its alarming appearance.
Curtain-web Spider (Dipluridae family)
Curtain-web Spiders belong to the family Dipluridae and are found in moist forest habitats along eastern Australia, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales rainforests. They construct a distinctive horizontal sheet web with a tubular retreat, the entrance surrounded by vertical trip threads that resemble a fine curtain — hence their common name.
These primitive, mygalomorph spiders are closely related to funnel-webs and trapdoor spiders and are considered medically significant, though documented envenomations in humans are uncommon.
Sac Spider (Clubiona spp.)
Sac Spiders of the genus Clubiona are small, pale yellow to brown hunting spiders found across all Australian states and territories in a vast range of habitats, from coastal heath and woodland to suburban gardens and agricultural land.
They construct a small silken tube or sac as a retreat under bark, leaves, and rocks, from which they emerge at night to actively pursue small insects on foliage and along the ground. Several species readily enter homes, where they are often found in bedding and clothing, occasionally biting when trapped against skin.
Twig Spider (Ariamnes spp.)
The Twig Spiders of the genus Ariamnes are astonishing masters of disguise, found in eastern and northern Australia across Queensland, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory in woodland and forest habitats.
Their slender, elongated bodies are coloured in shades of brown, grey, and pale yellow, and they rest with their forelegs stretched forward along a twig or stem, becoming almost perfectly invisible against the plant material. These spiders produce a pheromone-laced silk thread as a lure to attract other spiders, which they then ambush and consume.
Wrap-around Spider (Dolophones spp.)
The Wrap-around Spider is found throughout eastern Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, in woodland, forest, and garden habitats. It is named for its extraordinary ability to wrap its flattened body completely around a small branch or twig, using the concave underside of its disc-shaped abdomen to grip the surface and become virtually indistinguishable from bark.
By day it clings to branches in this cryptic pose; by night it descends to spin a small orb web to catch insects. It is one of Australia’s most inventively camouflaged spiders.
Cockroach Spider (Delena cancerides)
The Cockroach Spider is a large, flat, social huntsman found beneath the bark of dead wattles, banksias, and eucalypts across southern and eastern Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Unusually for spiders, it lives in family groups of up to 150 individuals under a single piece of bark — a level of sociality extremely rare in the spider world.
Studies have shown that older siblings help care for younger ones within the colony. When exposed, the spider is extremely fast and can be difficult to capture.
Mouse Spider — Eastern (Missulena bradleyi)
The Eastern Mouse Spider is a medium-sized, ground-dwelling mygalomorph spider found along the eastern coastal regions of Australia, from southern Queensland through New South Wales and into Victoria. It constructs a burrow with two side-by-side entrance shafts covered by soft, lid-like doors.
The male is often seen wandering in autumn and spring in search of females and can be mistaken for a funnel-web spider, though it is distinguished by its red, bulbous head. Its venom is potentially dangerous to humans and should be treated with the same caution as a funnel-web bite.
Lichen Huntsman (Pandercetes gracilis)
The Lichen Huntsman is a masterpiece of natural camouflage, found in the tropical and subtropical rainforests of Queensland and the Northern Territory. Its flattened body is intricately patterned in shades of grey, green, white, and brown that match the lichen-covered bark and mossy rock surfaces it inhabits with breathtaking precision.
By day it presses its body flush against a lichen-encrusted surface, becoming functionally invisible, and by night it roams in search of insects. Despite belonging to the huntsman family, it is significantly flatter and more sedentary than most of its relatives.