Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs Spiders > Alice Springs Spider Index
Storena is a genera of spiders in the family Zodariidae, commonly known as the Ant Spider. The family Zodariidae are a group of Ant Spiders, that are small to medium-size , with most species of the family hunting during the day.
Spiders in this genus have exoskeletons that may be smooth or granulated in texture, and lightly covered with hairs. The colour of the carapace across the various species can range from reddish orange to dark brown or black, and are usually darker around the eyes. The legs are distinctive with orange to red, sometimes darkening towards the tarsi. On the upper surface of the abdomen there are 2, 3, or 5 spots that are yellow or orange spots, with the unpaired spot (when present) positioned above the spinnerets and a brown pitted shield sitting between the spots. The eyes are circular and split across three rows, with two eyes in the bottom row, four in the middle, and two in the top row.
Picture here is a male Storena Ant Spider, recovered from a swimming pool in Alice Springs.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Zodariidae
- Genus: Storena
Footnote & References
- Many thanks to Ben Kurek and Vidar Tysvaer for ID, member of Australian spider identification page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/australianspidereducation/
- Storena Walckenaer, 1805, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Storena
- Genus Storena, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/207965-Storena
- Spotted Ground Spiders, Australian Museum, https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/spotted-ground-spiders/
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