#anamidae

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Wishbone spiders don't get their name from their bones-- of which they have none. Instead, these spiders are known for building their tunnels in a 'wishbone' shape; when a predator comes sniffing around one entrance, the spider can easily escape out the other!

(Image: A black wishbone spider (Aname atra) by Steve Clark)

[ljsbugblog]

I've saved the best creature for last (from this particular trip anyway). this gorgeous man is some kind of Wishbone spider, a family of Mygalomorphs found exclusively in Australia, distinguished by their particularly large fangs and 'Y' shaped burrow.

For context, his body length was about 2-3cm (I really need to carry a ruler with me so I can be more accurate).

His silvery-black colouring was stunning, as were the large 'spurs' on his forelegs (somewhat visible in the top photo).

We found this male under our tent as we were packing it away, he would have been travelling in search of a female's burrow the night before.

Unknown Wishbone spider, male (genus Aname).

[drhoz]

#3063 - Kwonkan wonganensis - Wongan Wishbone Spider

Not the spider itself, obviously, since she is staying deep underground away from the heat and daylight, but the very distinctive entrance to her burrow, disguised with fine laterite gravel and surrounded by carefully selected larger pieces. At night, she'll listen for the sound of anybody walking past, and lunge out to seize them.

Kwonkan wonganensis is a Anamid that lives in y-shaped burrows in open woodland in what is now the Avon Wheatbelt, so it's only found in the surviving reserves.  It was described in 1977 by Australian arachnologist Barbara York Main.

There were a LOT of these burrows either side of the track in Rogers Reserve.

Great Southern BioBlitz 2024, Wongan Hills - Rogers Reserve

[drhoz]

#3551 - Aname sp. - Wishbone Spider

Spotted while running moth trapping and a night walk for the BioBlitz, at the edge of Kalamunda NP on the Darling Escarpment.

Large, shy, mostly harmless mygalomorph spider widespread in Australia, and usually only encountered when flooded out of their burrows, or out trying to find a girlfriend. Distinguished from our more dangerous mygalomorphs by the position of the mating spur - it's on the first pair of legs, never the second.

Of course if you're close enough to be able to tell that, and he's upset enough to be rearing up to try and scare you off, you're too close and should back off to leave him in peace. The leggy-looking appendages at the front are pedipalps, that he's filled with sperm in the hope of finding a female willing enough to recieve it.

The common name comes from the y-shaped burrows they spend most of their life in.

Kalamunda NP, Perth.