Male Redback spider lateral
October is coming to a close.....spider season is ending in the northern hemisphere but kicking off down here in Australia.
First redback of the season, a male! I was entranced watching him spinning a web, but his tiny size and non-stop, frenetic activity made capturing a shot difficult. Hopefully I picked up enough detail to appreciate and enjoy. He will be keen to find a big, beautiful female and mate as soon as possible.
It appears that he has just the one pedipalp at the time of this shot, but looking at other images from my time with him, he clearly had two.
3 mm body length.
The redback spider is a species of venomous spider indigenous to Australia. It is a member of the cosmopolitan genus "Latrodectus", the widow spiders. The adult female is easily recognised by her spherical black body with a prominent red stripe on the upper side of her abdomen and an hourglass-shaped red/orange streak on the underside.
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