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The Whistling /
Barking spider
(Selenocosmia crassipes)
Elanor Mahon
The Whistling / Barking spider
(Selenocosmia crassipes) makes a sound rather like a
thumb nail rubbing across a comb. You can hear it from
quite a distance away (over a meter away).
Females live up to 30 years, males up to 8 years.
They are nocturnal burrowers, typically very aggressive.
They can eat some pretty amazing stuff - guinea fowl
(like chickens), your usual array of invertebrates. One
has been seen dragging a 2.5 pound dead fish carcass up
from the river bank and across the forest floor to its
burrow, where it happily feasted!
Reports about their venom are often conflicting. Some
claim that they are dangerous to humans, esp. small
children and sick elderly people, and can make an adult
feel very unwell (vomiting).
There are substantiated reports that their venom has
killed large dogs - Dobermans and German shepherds within
20 minutes of a bite (these dogs are usually the farm
dogs which play with things they shouldn't).
They are found in tropical rainforests of Queensland, and
as such need warm temperatures and plenty of humidity.
They grow to about palm size, light to dark brown in
colour. Males are smaller in body size, but have much
longer legs than the females and hence look bigger.
Females are quite "sturdy".
This information was supplied by Elanor Mahon of
Melbourne Australia
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