In terms of its natural habitat, what is the world’s southernmost spider?

dv said:

In terms of its natural habitat, what is the world’s southernmost spider?

As in Arachnid? I would guess one of them aquatic spiders – pycnogonids.

Booyah!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_spider

Sea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans.

Next question please :)

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Booyah!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_spider

Sea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans.

Next question please :)

Not real spiders.

That is correct sibeen – see spiders are not arachnids.

Possibly Macquarie Island. It has arachnids.

sibeen said:

Not real spiders.

Close enough for engineering purposes.

Michael V said:

That is correct sibeen – see spiders are not arachnids.

Possibly Macquarie Island. It has arachnids.

I would have thought the southern tip (Cape Horn) of South America.

The Falkland Islands are south of Maquarie and it appears they contain 46 species (known) of spiders.

So I’m still going for Cape Horn or thereabouts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Antarctic_and_subantarctic_islands

That’s a big list to be checking…

sibeen said:

Michael V said:

That is correct sibeen – see spiders are not arachnids.

Possibly Macquarie Island. It has arachnids.

I would have thought the southern tip (Cape Horn) of South America.

How about that.

I thought that Macquarie Island was way South of Cape Horn, but I was wrong.

sibeen said:

The Falkland Islands are south of Maquarie and it appears they contain 46 species (known) of spiders.

So I’m still going for Cape Horn or thereabouts.

But Google tells me that Macquarie Island is well South of The Falklands.

It seems that not only are there spiders on Antarctica, they are as big as dinner plates:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-516329/Antarcticas-amazing-wilderness-spiders-big-dinner-plates.html

Daily Mail, so it must be true.

Cape Horn is located at 55°58′48″S

Macquarie Island lies at 54°30’S

The Falkland Islands are at a latitude of about 52°S

Cape Horn trumps Macquarie which in turn trumps Falklands.

(Wikipedia)

Sea spiders are not spiders.

dv said:

Sea spiders are not spiders.

Come on. Next you’ll be telling me that whales aren’t fishes.

Another thing I didn’t know: parts of Antarctica are outside the Antarctic Circle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Antarctica.svg/907px-Antarctica.svg.png

I think Google is losing it.

If you search for southernmost spider you get pages of hits on some podiatrist group.

What’s a good search engine, these days?

I thought I was onto something, but no…

Cokendolpher, J. C. and D. Lanfranco L. 1985. Opiliones from the Cape Horn Archipelago: New
southern records for harvestmen . J. Arachnol., 13:311-319.

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v13_n3/JoA_v13_p311.pdf

“Although superficially similar to and often confused with spiders (order Araneae), Opiliones is a distinct order that is not closely related to spiders within Arachnida.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones

The Rev Dodgson said:

I think Google is losing it.

If you search for southernmost spider you get pages of hits on some podiatrist group.

What’s a good search engine, these days?

Bing

• What’s a good search engine, these days?

Duck Duck Go…

// What’s a good search engine, these days?

SSSF

SCIENCE said:

// What’s a good search engine, these days?

SSSF

Yeah, that dv bloke comes in here and we all go off and do his duck google binging for him!

Fly, my pretties

Full article is behind a pay wall:

Biogeography of spiders (Araneae: Arachnida) on the islands of the Southern Ocean

P. J. A. Pugh

Journal of Natural History – J NATUR HIST 01/2004; 38(12):1461-1487. DOI:10.1080/0022293031000155403

ABSTRACT

The araneofauna of the extreme Southern Hemisphere is highly impoverished and disharmonic. Four dead anthropogenic immigrant spiders have been collected from Antarctica while only 115 verified species from 26 families are reported on the islands of the Southern Ocean. Cluster analysis of the verified Southern Ocean species distribution data identifies a weak, but distinct, Neotropical/South Atlantic association together with robust South Indian and South Pacific biogeographic clusters. These groupings, largely attributed to vicariance and/or endemism, contain little evidence of post-Pleistocene dispersal. Indeed the 14 records of anthropogenic origin suggest that the pace of recent human-mediated introduction has been at least 30 times more rapid than that of Holocene natural dispersal.

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/247510012_Biogeography_of_spiders_(Araneae_Arachnida)_on_the_islands_of_the_Southern_Ocean

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0022293031000155403#.U1huBFWSzSt

Siberian tawny mouth strawberry faced bum skidder?

Sorry that is the most northerly bird.

You need insects for spiders to survive, so that will give a reasonable answer for their most southerly occurrence. However mites do not need insects and feed from a variety of substances. So I would say, it would some moss inhabiting mite that would be the most southerly occurring arachnid.

PermeateFree said:

You need insects for spiders to survive,

Except for those that eat birds, mammals, amphibians, non-insect arthropodods, molluscs, reptiles, nectar …

Spiders are quite happy to eat each other.

Bubblecar said:

Spiders are quite happy to eat each other.

For energy conservation reasons, having spiders only living on spiders would not be a stable situation.

BTW, there are insects in Antarctica, but no spiders.

dv said:

PermeateFree said:

You need insects for spiders to survive,

Except for those that eat birds, mammals, amphibians, non-insect arthropodods, molluscs, reptiles, nectar …

Well you aren’t going to get many of those in far southern regions either, are you? Plus few if any of the above are part of their regular diet, but captured inadvertently.

Bubblecar said:

Spiders are quite happy to eat each other.

You still need the majority feeding on insects to provide the prey for the spider eating ones. So again you are not going to get these in far southern regions.

dv said:

Bubblecar said:

Spiders are quite happy to eat each other.

For energy conservation reasons, having spiders only living on spiders would not be a stable situation.

BTW, there are insects in Antarctica, but no spiders.

>>The Bishop Museum has sent me collections of oribatid mites from Antarctica containing
5 specimens belonging to the rare genus Maudheimia. The material was collected
by E. B. Fitzgerald for the Dominion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, and originates
from lichen growing on warm rock at an elevation of 300 m on the east side of Hallett
Glacier.<<
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/4(4)-865.pdf

whereas:

>>Insects can be found on all the world’s continents including Antarctica. The Antarctic is inhospitable to most insects. There is only one insect species that survives year round on Antarctica, the Chironomid Midge, Belgica antarctica. This tiny fly is only active during the Antarctic summer. When the temperatures warm to a balmy 4 degrees centigrade, (39 degrees Fahrenheit) the midge larvae become active. Food is not plentiful in Antarctica and the midges take two years to develop into adults. The midge is the largest permanent land animal in Antarctica. Other animals may visit in the summer, but do not stay the winter.<<

http://livingwithinsects.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/insects-living-with-extremes/

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

Bubblecar said:

Spiders are quite happy to eat each other.

For energy conservation reasons, having spiders only living on spiders would not be a stable situation.

BTW, there are insects in Antarctica, but no spiders.

>>The Bishop Museum has sent me collections of oribatid mites from Antarctica containing
5 specimens belonging to the rare genus Maudheimia. The material was collected
by E. B. Fitzgerald for the Dominion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, and originates
from lichen growing on warm rock at an elevation of 300 m on the east side of Hallett
Glacier.<<
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/4(4)-865.pdf

whereas:

>>Insects can be found on all the world’s continents including Antarctica. The Antarctic is inhospitable to most insects. There is only one insect species that survives year round on Antarctica, the Chironomid Midge, Belgica antarctica. This tiny fly is only active during the Antarctic summer. When the temperatures warm to a balmy 4 degrees centigrade, (39 degrees Fahrenheit) the midge larvae become active. Food is not plentiful in Antarctica and the midges take two years to develop into adults. The midge is the largest permanent land animal in Antarctica. Other animals may visit in the summer, but do not stay the winter.<<

http://livingwithinsects.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/insects-living-with-extremes/

So you agree with me

Climb dance remastered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-PZ5J3GLSYI

I may need to go and have a lay down…

I don’t see the relevance

dv said:

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

For energy conservation reasons, having spiders only living on spiders would not be a stable situation.

BTW, there are insects in Antarctica, but no spiders.

>>The Bishop Museum has sent me collections of oribatid mites from Antarctica containing
5 specimens belonging to the rare genus Maudheimia. The material was collected
by E. B. Fitzgerald for the Dominion Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, and originates
from lichen growing on warm rock at an elevation of 300 m on the east side of Hallett
Glacier.<<
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/4(4)-865.pdf

whereas:

>>Insects can be found on all the world’s continents including Antarctica. The Antarctic is inhospitable to most insects. There is only one insect species that survives year round on Antarctica, the Chironomid Midge, Belgica antarctica. This tiny fly is only active during the Antarctic summer. When the temperatures warm to a balmy 4 degrees centigrade, (39 degrees Fahrenheit) the midge larvae become active. Food is not plentiful in Antarctica and the midges take two years to develop into adults. The midge is the largest permanent land animal in Antarctica. Other animals may visit in the summer, but do not stay the winter.<<

http://livingwithinsects.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/insects-living-with-extremes/

So you agree with me

A mite is an arachnid, i.e. eight legged and related to spiders. I did mention this in my first post, but apparently you did not read that bit.

PermeateFree said:

A mite is an arachnid, i.e. eight legged and related to spiders.

That’s correct.

dv said:

PermeateFree said:

A mite is an arachnid, i.e. eight legged and related to spiders.

That’s correct.

Thank you Boris.

i’m not dv but i am boris.

ChrispenEvan said:

i’m not dv but i am boris.

Man that will send PF into a spiral of conspiracies, it’ll do his head in.

ChrispenEvan said:

i’m not dv but i am boris.

You seem to have an unusual number of aliases Boris, I shall add ChrispenEvan to the list. By the way, if dv is not Boris, perhaps she should tell people not to call her that.

Peak Warming Man said:

ChrispenEvan said:

i’m not dv but i am boris.

Man that will send PF into a spiral of conspiracies, it’ll do his head in.

You are not adverse to aliases either PWM.

ChrispenEvan said:

i’m not dv but i am boris.

So what’s your opinion on the spider question dv?

>Except for those that eat birds

Don’t think there are any spiders that eat penguins.

I wouldn’t like to meet the spider that eats penguins.

The Rev Dodgson said:

ChrispenEvan said:

i’m not dv but i am boris.

So what’s your opinion on the spider question dv?

Not my best.

In case anyone cares … I’m not Boris.

Indeed, at this here Holiday Forum, I’ve only ever used one tag.

dv said:

In case anyone cares … I’m not Boris.

I knew that :)

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

ChrispenEvan said:

i’m not dv but i am boris.

So what’s your opinion on the spider question dv?

Not my best.

In case anyone cares … I’m not Boris.

Indeed, at this here Holiday Forum, I’ve only ever used one tag.

Thank you, I have removed you from the list of Boris’s aliases. You were called Boris by another however, presumably an error.

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

So what’s your opinion on the spider question dv?

Not my best.

In case anyone cares … I’m not Boris.

Indeed, at this here Holiday Forum, I’ve only ever used one tag.

Thank you, I have removed you from the list of Boris’s aliases. You were called Boris by another however, presumably an error.

Who was that?

(Waves hanky in the air)

I’m not Boris, either!

(for one thing, I lack the imagination to come up with multiple handles)

I’m Boris

dv said:

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

Not my best.

In case anyone cares … I’m not Boris.

Indeed, at this here Holiday Forum, I’ve only ever used one tag.

Thank you, I have removed you from the list of Boris’s aliases. You were called Boris by another however, presumably an error.

Who was that?

Sorry I didn’t record the conversation.

Jing Joh said:

I’m Boris

Sorry I don’t have you on the list. I’ll place you as a possible Boris then.

BTW is the plural of Boris Borises, or do we adopt the Greek pluralisation of Borides?

The plural of Boris is Boris. As in that David Attenborough documentary where they followed a huge heard of Boris on their annual migration.

heard = herd of course.

Or perhaps Boris IS the plural, and the singular is Bori.

Bubblecar said:

heard = herd of course.

Of course I’ve herd of course. Opposite of fine.

dv said:

BTW is the plural of Boris Borises, or do we adopt the Greek pluralisation of Borides?

Whatever, as long as I know to whom I’m conversing.

Jing Joh said:

I’m Boris

Really? I don’t believe you. Can you prove that? I reckon you’re making that up…

The Rev Dodgson said:

Another thing I didn’t know: parts of Antarctica are outside the Antarctic Circle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Antarctica.svg/907px-Antarctica.svg.png

BTW, Rev, I am extremely surprised you did no know this. I blame myself, partly.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Another thing I didn’t know: parts of Antarctica are outside the Antarctic Circle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Antarctica.svg/907px-Antarctica.svg.png

BTW, Rev, I am extremely surprised you did no know this. I blame myself, partly.

Don’t feel too bad dv. I have reached the age where I forget a lot of stuff like this, so I probably did know it once.

Can one of you oldtimers lend me a shilling?
http://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/53938/C.05.01.pdf

Join the scouts. Bob-a-job.

dv said:

Can one of you oldtimers lend me a shilling?
http://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/53938/C.05.01.pdf

Only ninepence if you’re a subscriber.

I could subscribe I suppose, save thrippence.

Seems to a common view that none of the islands adjacent to Antarctica have spiders other than those accidentally introduced by people.
http://www.biollett.amu.edu.pl/biollett_44_2_2.pdf

Notiomaso grytvikensis is mentioned in A Field Guide to the Wildlife of South Georgia, and there are refs to other Notiomaso on adjacent islands, but not in the South Sandwich islands.

Now…

How far sound in Tierra del Fuego do the spiders go?

dv said:

Now…

How far south in Tierra del Fuego do the spiders go?

Possibly to the islands – Cape Horn etc. But I wasn’t able to confirm that.

I’ve found a very old reference to a spider at Cape Horn.

On some spiders from Chili and Peru collected by Dr. Plate of Berlin
By F O Pickard-Cambridge (communicated by Prof G.B.Howes F.R.S Sec.L.S.)
Jour. Linn. Soc. London 27: 15-22 (1899)

On page 16, in his list of specimens

“Lycosa australis E.Simon, Tekenilla, Cape Horn.”

The E.Simon refers to Eugene Simon, who first described the species.

I can’t find any reference to Tekenilla, or anything like it. From the context it should be a place name.

But, the Cape Horn archipelago is not large, and this pinpoints the ref reasonably well. This is further south than anywhere in the South Georgia set of islands.

dv said:

I’ve found a very old reference to a spider at Cape Horn.

On some spiders from Chili and Peru collected by Dr. Plate of Berlin
By F O Pickard-Cambridge (communicated by Prof G.B.Howes F.R.S Sec.L.S.)
Jour. Linn. Soc. London 27: 15-22 (1899)

On page 16, in his list of specimens

“Lycosa australis E.Simon, Tekenilla, Cape Horn.”

The E.Simon refers to Eugene Simon, who first described the species.

I can’t find any reference to Tekenilla, or anything like it. From the context it should be a place name.

But, the Cape Horn archipelago is not large, and this pinpoints the ref reasonably well. This is further south than anywhere in the South Georgia set of islands.

And further south than Tierra del Fuego.

dv said:

I’ve found a very old reference to a spider at Cape Horn.

On some spiders from Chili and Peru collected by Dr. Plate of Berlin
By F O Pickard-Cambridge (communicated by Prof G.B.Howes F.R.S Sec.L.S.)
Jour. Linn. Soc. London 27: 15-22 (1899)

On page 16, in his list of specimens

“Lycosa australis E.Simon, Tekenilla, Cape Horn.”

The E.Simon refers to Eugene Simon, who first described the species.

I can’t find any reference to Tekenilla, or anything like it. From the context it should be a place name.

But, the Cape Horn archipelago is not large, and this pinpoints the ref reasonably well. This is further south than anywhere in the South Georgia set of islands.

Interestingly Lycosa is the Wolf Spider genus that generally live in holes in the ground. They usually run their prey down, so tend to be larger than their prey.

dv said:

Seems to a common view that none of the islands adjacent to Antarctica have spiders other than those accidentally introduced by people.
http://www.biollett.amu.edu.pl/biollett_44_2_2.pdf

Notiomaso grytvikensis is mentioned in A Field Guide to the Wildlife of South Georgia, and there are refs to other Notiomaso on adjacent islands, but not in the South Sandwich islands.

While I agree that accidental introduction probably dominates the migration of spiders into Antarctica, I suggest that ballooning spiders may also be involved. Ballooning spiders have been found as high as 5km (16000 feet) AMSL and more than 1600km from land, and they can survive for more than 25 days without food. If they’re caught in the right kind of wind gust they can be lifted into a jet stream or Hadley cell (or Ferrel cell, or Polar cell), which could easily transport them to Antarctica.

Lycosa australis Simon, 1884 — Distribution: Chile, Argentenia, Uruguay.

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

I’ve found a very old reference to a spider at Cape Horn.

On some spiders from Chili and Peru collected by Dr. Plate of Berlin
By F O Pickard-Cambridge (communicated by Prof G.B.Howes F.R.S Sec.L.S.)
Jour. Linn. Soc. London 27: 15-22 (1899)

On page 16, in his list of specimens

“Lycosa australis E.Simon, Tekenilla, Cape Horn.”

The E.Simon refers to Eugene Simon, who first described the species.

I can’t find any reference to Tekenilla, or anything like it. From the context it should be a place name.

But, the Cape Horn archipelago is not large, and this pinpoints the ref reasonably well. This is further south than anywhere in the South Georgia set of islands.

Interestingly Lycosa is the Wolf Spider genus that generally live in holes in the ground. They usually run their prey down, so tend to be larger than their prey.

yeah, we get lots of wolf spiders here, lots of them have been coming out as we are digging up the lawns and gardens, disturbing their holes.
(they’re bloody fast runners too)

Lycosa australis Simon, 1884 — Distribution: Chile, Argentenia, Uruguay.

I can’t find anything on spiders on Diego Ramirez, which is a bit south of Cape Horn.

Also can’t spiders on the South Sandwich Islands or anything further south. All y’all saying Cape Horn can probably collect your winnings.

stumpy_seahorse said:

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

I’ve found a very old reference to a spider at Cape Horn.

On some spiders from Chili and Peru collected by Dr. Plate of Berlin
By F O Pickard-Cambridge (communicated by Prof G.B.Howes F.R.S Sec.L.S.)
Jour. Linn. Soc. London 27: 15-22 (1899)

On page 16, in his list of specimens

“Lycosa australis E.Simon, Tekenilla, Cape Horn.”

The E.Simon refers to Eugene Simon, who first described the species.

I can’t find any reference to Tekenilla, or anything like it. From the context it should be a place name.

But, the Cape Horn archipelago is not large, and this pinpoints the ref reasonably well. This is further south than anywhere in the South Georgia set of islands.

Interestingly Lycosa is the Wolf Spider genus that generally live in holes in the ground. They usually run their prey down, so tend to be larger than their prey.

yeah, we get lots of wolf spiders here, lots of them have been coming out as we are digging up the lawns and gardens, disturbing their holes.
(they’re bloody fast runners too)

Wolf spiders build very unusual burrows, often with above ground ornamentation with the photos below just a few. The mothers of many species carry their offspring on their back and can be so numerous that all you see of her are her legs. Very interesting spiders.

PermeateFree said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

PermeateFree said:

Interestingly Lycosa is the Wolf Spider genus that generally live in holes in the ground. They usually run their prey down, so tend to be larger than their prey.

yeah, we get lots of wolf spiders here, lots of them have been coming out as we are digging up the lawns and gardens, disturbing their holes.
(they’re bloody fast runners too)

Wolf spiders build very unusual burrows, often with above ground ornamentation with the photos below just a few. The mothers of many species carry their offspring on their back and can be so numerous that all you see of her are her legs. Very interesting spiders.

!http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KMSdjb0fvhA/SQL2cghfu1I/AAAAAAAABXA/VBQg6J0fXIw/s200/Wolf+Spider++001AA++Lycosa+species.JPG

cool, haven’t seen any here like that, mainly just trapdoor holes

stumpy_seahorse said:

PermeateFree said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

yeah, we get lots of wolf spiders here, lots of them have been coming out as we are digging up the lawns and gardens, disturbing their holes.
(they’re bloody fast runners too)

Wolf spiders build very unusual burrows, often with above ground ornamentation with the photos below just a few. The mothers of many species carry their offspring on their back and can be so numerous that all you see of her are her legs. Very interesting spiders.

!http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KMSdjb0fvhA/SQL2cghfu1I/AAAAAAAABXA/VBQg6J0fXIw/s200/Wolf+Spider++001AA++Lycosa+species.JPG

cool, haven’t seen any here like that, mainly just trapdoor holes

Yes, they do those too.

PermeateFree said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

PermeateFree said:

Wolf spiders build very unusual burrows, often with above ground ornamentation with the photos below just a few. The mothers of many species carry their offspring on their back and can be so numerous that all you see of her are her legs. Very interesting spiders.

!http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KMSdjb0fvhA/SQLoJnkCrBI/AAAAAAAABWQ/RUDoqbObaII/s200/Wolf+Spider++002AA++Lycosa+species.JPG
!http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KMSdjb0fvhA/SQLoylTGshI/AAAAAAAABWY/l2DeVPY6n8A/s200/Wolf+Spider++003AA++Lycosa+species.JPG
!http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KMSdjb0fvhA/SQLptAzWoXI/AAAAAAAABWo/tk4-IirSIZ0/s200/Wolf+Spider++007AA++Lycosa+species.JPG
!http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KMSdjb0fvhA/SQL2cghfu1I/AAAAAAAABXA/VBQg6J0fXIw/s200/Wolf+Spider++001AA++Lycosa+species.JPG

cool, haven’t seen any here like that, mainly just trapdoor holes

Yes, they do those too.

we get a couple/day inside at the moment.
Someone was telling me that their eyes are reflective in the torchlight, but i haven’t observed that yet

stumpy_seahorse said:

PermeateFree said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

cool, haven’t seen any here like that, mainly just trapdoor holes

Yes, they do those too.

we get a couple/day inside at the moment.
Someone was telling me that their eyes are reflective in the torchlight, but i haven’t observed that yet

Just hold the torch up to your eye and look around, you will probably see lots of bright white eyes looking back. You can see quite a few spiders doing that.

PermeateFree said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

PermeateFree said:

Yes, they do those too.

we get a couple/day inside at the moment.
Someone was telling me that their eyes are reflective in the torchlight, but i haven’t observed that yet

Just hold the torch up to your eye and look around, you will probably see lots of bright white eyes looking back. You can see quite a few spiders doing that.

cool, will give it a go

You can see quite a few spiders doing that. = spider species.

Out of interest, there are spiders on Crozet and on Kerguelen, but those are considerably further north of Cape Horn.

dv said:

Out of interest, there are spiders on Crozet and on Kerguelen, but those are considerably further north of Cape Horn.

With large spiders like Wolf-spiders, I would think there would be a number of other species.

Some wolf spiders (including L. australis) are quite small, millimetres across the body.

dv said:

Some wolf spiders (including L. australis) are quite small, millimetres across the body.

Large spider classification are only 3/8”-1/2” in head/body length. So a few millimetres across the body would very likely make that standard. However, I have no doubt smaller ones do exist.

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

Some wolf spiders (including L. australis) are quite small, millimetres across the body.

Large spider classification are only 3/8”-1/2” in head/body length. So a few millimetres across the body would very likely make that standard. However, I have no doubt smaller ones do exist.

Just checked and large spiders are classified as 8 mm + in length. Been awhile since I used that section, although I doubt if it would change what I said before.

Like the rest of you, I am appalled at the low level of freely available information on arthropods of the subantarctic.