Aust. spider found in N.Z.

Press, 20 April 1989, Page 38

Aust. spider found in N.Z.

PA Palmerston North An enormous, creepy Australian visitor has been found living in a Palmerston North lemon tree. The lemon tree’s owners rang the Ministry of Agriculture to say their garden was home to a huge unusual-looking spider in a web large enough to catch a bird. The Ministry of Agriculture extracted the tourist out of her web and into a jar for identification.

At the office the tourist was identified as a female Australian golden orbweaving spider, the first of its kind to be found in the region.

MAFQual’s quarantine officer, Mr Peter Butler, said only half a dozen of the spiders had been found in New Zealand in the last 20 years. The spiders were being blown across the Tasman Sea when they were very young. So far only females had been found here so no colonies had started.

Although golden orbweaving spiders could deliver a painful bite, they weren’t poisonous, Mr Butler said.

They usually fed on large insects like bees but had been known to catch and kill small birds in their large, strong webs. The Ministry of Agriculture did not want the species to become established here because they could pose a threat to native insects and birds. Mr Butler said the spider would be kflpt alive and sent to Auckland to be studied.