Delena cancerides
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| Delena cancerides | ||||||||||||||
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| Delena cancerides Walckenaer, 1837 |
Delena cancerides, known as the Avondale spider in New Zealand, is a large, brown huntsman spider. Originally found in Australia it has been accidentally introduced to the Avondale area of New Zealand, and its range now extends into the Waitakere area.
[edit] Habitat and appearance
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. They are non-venomous to humans and they seldom venture indoors.
They are an Australian species, accidentally introduced to New Zealand in the early 1920s in shipments of hardwood logs used for railway sleepers. The first specimen was found in 1924. Since the spiders' territory expansion did not reach beyond Avondale for most of the time they have been living in New Zealand, the arachnids were then given their current popular name after the Auckland suburb.
The species is quite common in South Australia.
The body of the spider may be up to 30 mm long, is light brown and covered in dense, fine hairs. The legs are also hairy, and can span up to 200 mm (8 inches). Large specimens are not unusual.
[edit] Avondale spiders in fiction
- Avondale spiders achieved fame in the 1990 movie Arachnophobia, which used 374 of them.
- A brief appearance by an Avondale spider is made at the beginning of the 2002 movie Spider-Man.
- In the Xena: Warrior Princess episode "Motherhood", Eve holds an Avondale spider.
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