Trapdoor spiders

Trapdoor spiders come from several families of spiders, including the Idiopidae, Actinopodidae, Ctenizidae, Migidae and Cyrtaucheniidae. They look and act quite similar to funnel web spiders:

• They have large powerful fangs which can cause very painful bites. However, unlike funnel webs, their bites have not been associated with any significant systemic illnesses.
• They live in burrows with a trapdoor entrance to ambush their prey.
• Once mature, males leave the burrows and roam in search of a mate and prey, often entering houses.

Members of the trapdoor family include the mouse spiders (Missulena sp.) and in Australia are mainly from the Actinopodidae family.