Sapphire Coast SpidersCommon Bird-dropping Spider (Celaenia excavata) Common Triangular Spider (Arkys lancearius) Walckenaer’s Studded Triangular Spider (Arkys walckenaeri)
Known as the Common Bird-dropping Spider (Celaenia excavata), these amazing spider use their resemblance to bird dropping as a form of camouflage, a form of mimicry to avoid being eaten by birds and wasps.
Celaenia excavata has a couple of common names, including the Death’s Head Spider, due to the markings on the spider, that is said to resemble a skull (when viewed from above).
The female Celaenia excavata makes ball shaped egg sacs, measuring 10 mm in diameter. The eggs sacs are loosely held together by webbing. They will often have a number of eggs sacs grouped together, with each sac containing hundreds of eggs. The female usually sits with the egg sacs or nearby on the foliage.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Araneidae
- Genus: Celaenia
- Species: Celaenia excavata
Footnote & References
- Photographs Common Bird-dropping Spider (Celaenia excavata) © Deb Taylor
- Common Bird-dropping Spider (Celaenia excavata), debtayor142, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations?place_id=6744&subview=map&taxon_id=409761&user_id=debtaylor142&view=species
- Common Bird-dropping Spider Celaenia excavata, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/409761-Celaenia-excavata
- Celaenia excavata (L. Koch, 1867), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Celaenia excavata
Sapphire Coast SpidersCommon Bird-dropping Spider (Celaenia excavata) Common Triangular Spider (Arkys lancearius) Walckenaer’s Studded Triangular Spider (Arkys walckenaeri)
Sapphire Coast FaunaAnts Bees Birds Insects Spiders
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