Spiders in Queensland

What spiders live in Queensland?

No reliable figure exists for the number of spider species in Queensland, and fixed counts should be treated with caution: Australia has roughly four thousand described species and specialists estimate the true national total at two to three times that, with much of the undescribed material sitting in Queensland's rainforests. What is certain is that the state's range of habitats — wet tropics, subtropical coast, dry inland and mangrove — supports a deeper fauna than anywhere else in the country.

Day to day, a handful of species account for most sightings. The garden orb-weaver builds and dismantles a wheel web across the garden path every night. The St Andrew's cross spider sits head-down on a zig-zag silk decoration in low shrubs. The giant wood spider — an orb-weaver, despite being filed under funnel-webs on many older lists — strings golden webs up to two metres across between trees, with a female the size of a hand and males a fraction of her size. Around buildings, the black house spider fills window frames with untidy lace and the long-bodied cellar spider hangs under eaves and in garages.

Which Queensland spiders are actually dangerous?

The redback is the species most Queenslanders will meet. The female is glossy black, about a centimetre long, marked with a red or orange stripe, and she builds a scruffy tangled web in exactly the dry sheltered places a house provides: under garden furniture, in meter boxes and letterboxes, behind bins, in the corner of a shed. Bites cause latrodectism — burning pain spreading over several hours, with sweating, nausea and restlessness. Antivenom has been available since 1956 and no confirmed Australian death has followed a redback bite since, so the accurate framing is severe pain rather than mortal danger.

Queensland's funnel-webs are the genuine emergencies. They belong to the genus Hadronyche rather than to the Sydney species, and include the Toowoomba funnel-web of the southern ranges, the Lamington and Conondale species of the border forests, and the northern tree funnel-web, the largest funnel-web in Australia and one of very few that live in tree trunks rather than the ground. Their venom contains delta-hexatoxins that cause a rapid, dangerous disturbance of nerve function. Antivenom has been available since 1981 and there have been no Australian funnel-web deaths since. Mouse spiders, genus Missulena, share the habitat and respond to the same antivenom, though serious envenomation is rare.

Spiders wrongly listed as dangerous here

Queensland spider lists habitually name the garden orb-weaver, the black house spider and the white-tailed spider among the state's most dangerous. None of them belongs on that list. Garden orb-weavers are placid web-sitters that drop to the ground rather than confront anything, and a bite — which essentially requires squeezing the spider — gives brief local soreness. Black house spider bites hurt and may bring on sweating or nausea, but cause no lasting harm and require no antivenom.

The white-tail carries the most stubborn myth in Australian arachnology. A prospective study that followed 130 confirmed white-tail bites recorded local pain, a red mark and sometimes itching, with no necrotic ulcers at all. The ulcers attributed to the species over decades have consistently turned out to be bacterial infections, vascular disease or other dermatological problems. Huntsman spiders, likewise, are fast and alarming indoors but medically trivial.

Where you meet Queensland's spiders

Around the house

Window frames, weep-holes and railings hold house spiders; garages and laundries hold cellar spiders; huntsmen come indoors chasing moths and cockroaches. The real risk zone is the neglected edge of the property — stacked pots, the barbecue cover, the letterbox, the shed shelf — where redbacks build.

Gardens and farmland

Orb-weaver webs go up at head height between shrubs after dusk and come down before dawn, which is why the classic Queensland encounter is walking face-first into one. In drier open country, the coastal whistling tarantula lives in a deep silk-lined burrow; it is the state's largest spider, hisses by rubbing bristles near its fangs, and delivers a painful bite that causes vomiting in people but is genuinely dangerous only to dogs and cats.

Rainforest and the ranges

Funnel-webs need humidity, so the border ranges, the Conondales and the wet tropics hold them in logs, rock crevices and rough bark. Giant wood spiders sling golden webs across rainforest gaps and creek lines, and the far north adds jumping spiders, lynx spiders and many undescribed litter species.

Spider season in Queensland

Spiders are active across the whole Queensland year, but the wet season from November to March is when they become obvious. Storms and humidity produce a surge of flying insects, spiderlings hatched earlier reach a size worth noticing, and mature males stop sitting in their retreats and start walking in search of females — which is why the spider crossing the kitchen floor in January is nearly always a male.

Heavy rain has a second effect worth knowing. It floods ground burrows, pushing funnel-webs and mouse spiders into the open, so the days after a downpour are when they are most often found in a garage, a pool skimmer box or a pile of wet garden waste. The dry winter months in the south of the state are noticeably quieter; the tropical north barely slows down.

Common Spiders in Queensland

• Black House Spider
• Long Bodied Cellar Spider

Biggest Spider in Queensland

• Coastal Whistling Spider

Most Dangerous Spiders in Queensland

• Redback Spider
• White-tailed Spider
• Garden Orb Web Spider

Most Venomous Spiders in Queensland

Orb-Weaver Spiders

Orb WeaversGarden Orb Weaver Spider (Eriophora pustulosa)Identify the garden or knobbled orb weaver (Eriophora pustulosa) of Australia and New Zealand: size, shoulder knobs, nightly web, bite and hOrb WeaversGiant Wood Spider (Nephila pilipes)Identify the giant wood spider (Nephila pilipes): huge black-and-yellow females, tiny males, golden orb webs, range, diet and whether its bi

Funnel-web Spiders

Orb WeaversGiant Wood Spider (Nephila pilipes)Identify the giant wood spider (Nephila pilipes): huge black-and-yellow females, tiny males, golden orb webs, range, diet and whether its biAustralian Funnel-Web SpidersNorthern Tree Funnel-web (Hadronyche formidabilis)Identify the northern tree funnel-web (Hadronyche formidabilis): Australia's largest funnel-web, its tree hollows, venom and bite first aid.

House Spiders

Desidae SpidersBlack House (Badumna insignis)Identify the black house spider (Badumna insignis): size, velvety dark body, its lacy funnel web, where it lives, and how bad the bite reall

Comb-Footed Spiders

Cobweb SpidersRedback Spider (Latrodectus hasseltii)Identify the redback spider (Latrodectus hasseltii): the female's red stripe, the gum-footed web, where it lives, and how dangerous its bite

White‐Tailed Spiders

Lamponidae SpidersWhite-tailed (Lampona cylindrata & Lampona murina)Identify the white-tailed spider (Lampona cylindrata and L. murina), see where it lives, what it hunts, and why the flesh-eating bite claim

Less Venomous Spiders in Queensland

Orb-Weaver Spiders

Orb WeaversSt. Andrews Cross (Argiope keyserlingi)Identify the St. Andrews cross spider (Argiope keyserlingi): size, colours, the X-shaped web decoration, where it lives and whether its bite

Cellar Spiders

Cellar SpidersLong Bodied Cellar (Pholcus phalangioides)Identify the long-bodied cellar spider (Pholcus phalangioides): size, legs, web and eggs, plus the truth about the daddy-long-legs venom myt

Living with spiders in Queensland

Nearly every spider in the state is removing insects at no cost to anyone, so the goal is to avoid the few situations where bites happen:

• Wear gloves for gardening, moving pots, stacking firewood and clearing sheds — most redback bites are prevented by this alone.
• Check the underside of outdoor furniture, letterbox rims and bin handles before grabbing them.
• Shake out boots, gloves and washing left outdoors overnight.
• Never walk barefoot on grass at night, and check the pool skimmer box after storms.
• Keep a pressure-immobilisation bandage in the first-aid kit, and know it is for funnel-web and mouse spider bites only.
• Move orb-weaver webs aside with a stick instead of destroying them; the spider will rebuild and keep eating mosquitoes.

For any bite other than a suspected funnel-web or mouse spider, wash the site, apply a cold pack and a simple painkiller, and see a doctor if pain worsens over a day or the wound looks infected. The state's largest city has its own guide to spiders in Brisbane; see also the family pages for orb-weavers, huntsman spiders and tarantulas, and the wider roundup of the most venomous spiders.