"Spider rain" happens regularly in Australia's Outback, and increasingly around the world. How's this for a horror-movie moment: You step out of your house, and something small and wriggly drops onto your shoulder. Then something else bounces off your neck.
For example, Sydney averages a little over five inches of rain a month during this time. Flooding can trigger thousands of sheet-web weaver or money spiders to balloon from the ground to the sky often resembling snow to locals.
Spider rain occurs commonly in South Australia where thousands to millions of spiders seem to be falling out of the sky. Most of these spiders do not pose any threat to humans. They are not venomous. Many a time, these spiders become prey to their larger predators.
Filmed in Minas Gerais in southern Brazil, these spiders are Parawixia bistriata, a rare 'social' spider that works together to build giant, fine webs up high. And contrary to how it might look, don't worry, they're not actually raining down from above.
Find out what to do if you're bitten and how to identify a spider. Australia is well-known for its spiders, but the place isn't overrun with them. While we may have some of the world's most venomous species, you are unlikely to come across one unbless you go looking for one or happen to disturb one hiding away.
“Spider rain” happens when large groups of arachnids migrate all at once, using a technique called “ballooning.” According to a 2001 study in the Journal of Arachnology, the spiders will spin out dozens of silk strands at once so that they fan out and form a triangular parachute, allowing the clever critters to catch a ...
In Australia they are only found in the southeastern part of the country, from South Australia to Queensland via Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. You won't find them in the dry and arid zones. On the other hand, huntsman and wolf-spiders are found all over the country.
A town in south-east Australia has found itself blanketed in spider webs after wild weather hit the area. Traralgon in eastern Victoria has been swamped by vast, other worldly sheets of web as spiders climb to higher ground following the disruption of heavy rain.
An estimated 5 per cent of Australians have arachnophobia, but there are plenty of others happy to get close to the creepy crawlies.
Like all animal species, spiders need water to survive. That's why they're drawn to your bathroom, especially during more arid times of the year, such as fall and winter. In an otherwise dry house, sometimes bathrooms are the only place to find moisture.
What is the biggest spider in Australia? Australia's biggest spiders belong to the same family as the Goliath Spider. They are the whistling spiders. The northern species Selenocosmia crassipes can grow to 6 cm in body length with a leg span of 16 cm.
Spiders instinctively know to find shelter as it gets colder, such as leaves or inside crevices in tree bark. Those small, sheltered places, combined with their antifreeze, keeps them alive until spring.
If you try to catch a huntsman and it runs towards you, it isn't attacking. It is trying to get to a safe place, away from the giant human thing looming over it. Given they have poor eyesight, sometimes they get it a little wrong and head towards us instead of away from us.
Whitetailed spiders are found all across Australia. They usually live under bark and logs and in leaf litter, but they often enter our houses. These spiders are most active at night when they wander about hunting for other spiders, including black house spiders.
The species parawixia bistriata, is a rare “social” spider and the community web they build is so fine that it is nearly impossible for the human eye to see, giving the illusion that the spiders are floating on air.
Sutherland Shire is a prime habitat for funnel-web spiders, which thrive in warm, humid and wet conditions, and are particularly active at night. Four types of funnel-web spiders are found in southern Sydney - the Sydney funnel-web, Illawarra funnel-web, southern tree-dwelling funnel web and Blue Mountains funnel-web.
Which country has the most spiders? Millions upon millions of wildlife species call Africa home, and it is no different with spiders. Comprising of different climates and landscapes, just like Australia (except 3x larger), Africa sees some of the world's most venomous spiders.
“The spiders are probably larger in the urban areas as a result of more food, warmer temperatures (that is, the urban heat island effect) and a relaxation of predation,” Elizabeth says.
The Top End burrowing arachnid, known as the Maningrida diving tarantula , lives in huge numbers on a floodplain near the community, and was revealed to Western science 10 years ago by students from the college.
Massive spider-webs stretching across trees and paddocks have formed near towns in Australia recently hit by floods. Residents in Victoria's Gippsland region say the gossamer-like veils appeared after days of heavy rain. In one area, a spider-web covered more than a kilometre along a road.
Most back yards in Australia will have a garden orb weaver or two in residence. These are nocturnal spiders that hide away inconspicuously among leaves during the day but are usually not hard to miss at night.
As common as spiders are in Australia and how essential it is for the environment, no one still likes to see them in their home. With over 2400 different species in Australia, you are most likely to see any one of these eight-legged creatures in your lifetime.
Australian researchers have discovered a super-sized species of trapdoor spiders found only in Queensland. The females of this rare species can live for over 20 years in the wild and grow up to 5cm long - large in trapdoor spider terms.
Which any Aussie will tell you, you absolutely should. But in general, the spiders and snakes keep themselves to themselves. Your most common encounter will be cockroaches, but since they exist in every hot country, from France to the US, roaches shouldn't put you off the Australian way of life.