More than 30 species of the highly dangerous funnel web spider exist throughout Australia. The best known is the Sydney funnel web spider, Atrax robustus, which is found only within a 160 km radius of Sydney. The male is more dangerous than the female, which is unusual in the spider world. The male Sydney funnel web is also Australia's most dangerous spider, capable of causing death in as little as 15 minutes. However, in most cases of bites on humans little venom is injected and no symptoms develop. The venom appears to particularly affect primates. An antivenom was introduced in 1980, prior to which 13 known fatalities associated with bites from this spider were recorded. Since the antivenom has been in use, no definite deaths have been recorded, and time spent by bite victims in hospital has been greatly reduced.

Photo: R. Lowe, AVRU

The Sydney funnel web spiders are large, black, aggressive creatures with large downward powerful fangs. The males live in burrows or rock crevices which they line with silk. They attach external silk trip lines to the burrows to alert them to possible prey or mates. Colonies of more than 100 spiders may be found. Funnelwebs also like to live around house foundations and the male spiders in particular often wander into houses in the summer, especially during wet weather.