Barking Spiders produce their barking sound by rubbing rows of spines on their palaps against spines on their lower jaw. This noise is used to deter predators. The deserts are prone to flash flooding and Barking Spiders live in burrows with leaky rooves.
Noun. An Australian spider, Selenocosmia crassipes, which makes a "hissing" sound (stridulation) when disturbed.
Taxonomy and naming. This species was originally described by Henry R Hogg in 1901. However, early research from 1894 had noted that this species could produce an audible sound. This is likely how the species got the name "the barking spider".
noun. An Australian spider, Selenocosmia crassipes, which makes a "hissing" sound (stridulation) when disturbed. (euphemistic, humorous) An instance of audible flatulence; a fart.
The barking spider are ground dwellers. Adult females live in a wed-lined burrows while younger spiders and males use flimsy silk retreats under rocks and logs. They live in mulga country deserts and in tropical rainforests of Queensland also in Alice spings desert.
A large species of tarantula native to the east coast region of Australia, the whistling spider, is the largest spider in the country. As the largest spider in Australia, whistling spiders can grow a leg span of up to 16 cm (6.2 inches) and a body size of around 6 cm (2.3 inches).
Like other spiders of the genus, they display extreme sexual dimorphism, with large females and small males. Females vary in total body length from about 18 to 22 mm (0.7 to 0.9 in), males being around one third or less of this length, at about 6 mm (0.2 in).
The Barking Spider is, in fact, real and even has a couple of species. One of these species is also known as the Queensland whistling tarantula, that makes noises that are similar to barking, but it doesn't happen the same way as dogs bark. A couple of these species of barking spiders live throughout Australia.
They are harmless to humans and pets.
A bark is a sound most commonly produced from dogs. Other animals that make this noise include, but are not limited to, wolves, coyotes, foxes, seals and barking owls.
Selenocosmia crassipes can attain legspans of up to 22 cm (8.7 in). Its body length, from eyes to the rear of its abdomen, measures between 6 and 9 cm (2.4 and 3.5 in), making it the largest Australian tarantula.
Animals which feed directly on spiders include birds, reptiles, mammals and many arthropods, including other spiders, centipedes, scorpions and even some insects.
Tarantulas in Australia have often been called whistling, barking or bird-eating spiders because of the sounds most species can make. The whistling noise is most often produced when the spider is disturbed and takes up a threatening defensive pose.
Australia's tarantulas make a fine hissing sound, hence their other name, Whistling Spiders. They have been called name Bird-eating spider but that is incorrectly modified from "Bird Spider" which was given because the giant South American spiders resemble a fluffy bird chick. These spiders rarely eat birds.
The team established that the spiders freeze when exposed to low-frequency sounds of about 80 to 400 hertz that resemble a low hum, or buzz.
Spiders aren't powerful enough to vibrate the air, the way actual singing does. Instead, they use the ground. Male spiders send vibrations down their legs, and into whatever they're standing on. Nearby females “hear” the song vibrating up their legs.
Sydney funnel-web spider. According to the Guinness World Records, the Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, is the most dangerous spider to humans in the world. Native to Australia, this poisonous spider is found in moist habitats such as under logs or in gardens.
The world's strongest spider is the Californian trap-door spider Bothriocyrtum californicum which has been proved to be able to resist a force 38 times its own weight attempting to open its trap-door: a silken structure covering the entrance to its underground burrow.
The toughest silk is the dragline silk from the Golden Orb-Weaving spider (Nephilia clavipes), so-called because it uses silk of a golden hue to make orb webs. Spider silk is also very elastic and capture silk (sticky silk for catching prey) remains unbroken after being stretched 2-4 times its original length.
That is quite the sight, but picture this — millions of tiny spiders raining from the sky. While it can sound like something out of a horror movie, in Australia the transition from late summer to fall can trigger what is known to the locals as spider season.
Austracantha is a genus of spider with a single species, Austracantha minax, commonly known as the jewel spider or the Christmas spider. It is a member of the family Araneidae (the orb-weavers) and is endemic to Australia.
By rubbing together their two body segments, the males create vibrations that travel through the ground. The female spiders can “hear” the male songs through ear-like slits in their legs, called sensilla. The male jumping spider "sings" by rubbing together the two main parts of his body. ( Josh Cassidy/KQED)
The properties of spider silk also create the possibility for bulletproof body armor. A bullet can penetrate up to 29 layers of Kevlar. But research shows spider silk to be comparatively tougher than Kevlar and stronger than steel.
With a burst sprint capability estimated at 16 km/h (10 mph), which is roughly half that of the fastest human sprinters, solifugids of the genus Solpuga inhabiting the arid areas of North Africa and the Middle East are the world's fastest arachnids.
Harvard Entomologist Piotr Naskrecki recently posted on his blog about an encounter in Guyana's rainforest with a South American Goliath birdeater, a spider so large it's the size of a small dog or puppy. According to Naskreski, "Their leg span approaches 30 cm (nearly a foot) and they weigh up to 170 g."