Dolomedes facetus (Elegant Water Spider)Colour variation
Known as the Elegant Water Spider (Dolomedes facetus), is from the family Pisauridae, and is a medium to large-sized fishing spider, endemic to Australia. Their range is from Western Australia to Tasmania and is common in the northern parts of Australia, across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
They are often found in freshwater ponds and waterways and backyard swimming pools, where they appear to be quite comfortable skating across the pool surface.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Chelicerata
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infraorder: Araneomorphae
- Family: Pisauridae
- Genus: Dolomedes
- Species: Dolomedes facetus
Footnote & References
- Many thanks for ID to Robert Raven, member of Australian spider identification page, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/groups/australianspidereducation/
- Dolomedes Latreille, 1804, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Dolomedes
- Crafty Fishing Spider (Dolomedes facetus), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/368975-Dolomedes-facetus
Dolomedes facetus (Elegant Water Spider)Colour variation
Dolomedes spDolomedes facetus (Elegant Water Spider)
SpidersIndex of Spider Images Spiders in Australia Spiders Index Araneidae — Orb Weavers Arkys Australian Huntsman Spider Barking Spider Black House Spider Carepalxis sp Celaenia sp Crab Spiders Deinopidae — Net-casting Spiders Dolomedes sp Dolophones sp Euryopis umbilicate (Superb Ant-eater Spider) Flower Spiders Gnaphosidae (Stealthy Ground Spider) Hackled Orbweavers (Uloboridae) Herennia sp Jewel Spider Jumping Spider Long Jawed Spider (Tetragnatha sp) Lynx Spider (Oxyopes) Mangrovia albida Maratus Missulena occatoria (Red-headed Mouse Spider) Miturgidae Molycria burwelli Mopsus mormon Nicodamidae (Red and Black Spider) Nyssus coloripes (Orange-legged Swift Spider) Ogre-faced Net-casting Spider Poltys sp (Twig Spider) Redback Spider Scorpion-tailed Spider (Arachnura higginsi) Tetragnatha Thomisidae Tiger Spider (Trichonephila plumipes) White-spotted Swift Spider (Nyssus albopunctatus) Wolf Spider