Friday 11 April 2008

Spider

I think that this is the first time I've mentioned a spider in this Blog (or any other Blog come to that). I probably wouldn't have mentioned this one if it hadn't been for the fact that firstly I can positively identify it as a Supunna picta (Corinnidae) and secondly the fact that despite it only having 5 of its 8 legs it can still live up to being a Fleet Footed Spider. How can you run fast with only 5 of your 8 legs and I can't even run quickly with one dicky knee!

Actually another interesting thing is that it's only within the last 30 years (perhaps less) that the family Corinnidae has existed. The new family, mainly those of which that mimic ants, was separated from Clubionidae. In its native Australia this spider is a wasp mimic.

Actually there's a lot more some would find of interest I could tell you but I'm conscious of the fact that others could find it less than interesting.

What is significant is that this spider which is an Australian native which was first identified in New Zealand on Cuvier Island in the Hauraki Gulf just off the coast of Auckland in 1943 was not identified as an Australian spider until about 1958 when it was realised that it was an addition to New Zealand's immigrant Australian fauna.

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