Discover the Australian Black House Spider (Badumna insignis)

The common Australian spider is mostly a charcoal or black colour though they can be dark brown to black colours. Their bodies may feature grey or brown shades on the abdomen, accentuated by distinctive white markings. Their legs present a blend of brown and black. Female Black Spiders grow up to 18mm in body length and have a leg span reaching 30mm, while their male counterparts are much smaller and leaner. The Australian Black Spider is sometimes confused with the Funnel-Web Spider.

Australian Black Spiders typically make their homes in the protected exterior nooks of wooden or brick constructed sections of your premises. Their webs are thick, lacy, and often full of debris. You will also find Black House Spiders weaving their intricate webs on tree trunks (rough-barked trees), logs, or under rocks, utilizing any crevice that offers refuge.  Their preferred location around your home includes around window corners, where their webs extend outward. Additionally, they inhabit cracks in fibro, old corrugated iron, and vents. 

In their natural habitat Australian Black Spiders strategically position themselves by fissures, gouges, or boreholes in tree trunks, areas frequented by wood-boring insects like termites. Here they will ambush prey like butterflies, bees, or ants that are attracted to the sap of the trees. These unsuspecting insects often get caught in the spider's delicate web, and end up becoming its prey. 

Around the home, these spiders shift their hunting focus to indoor pests such as moths, beetles, and termites, which are commonly lured to the household lights or lamps during the evening hours.

These spiders are known for their elaborate web designs, creating dense, funnel-shaped webs as traps for their prey. The webs of Black House Spiders are composed of a thick silk matrix and are cleverly constructed to catch insects. They trap their prey primarily through physical entrapment rather than stickiness of the web.

These spiders exhibit a strong fidelity to their chosen home, and don't often change their web's location. This is what makes their webs accumulate a lot of debris over time with the web often becoming cluttered with small objects and dust particles. At night, the female spider busies herself with web maintenance - mending any damages and expanding her silken structure, and frequently layering fresh silk on top of the old web.

The male Australian Black Spider often journeys outside their webs to find females, signalling their intentions by rhythmically plucking the strands of the female's web. Post-mating, unlike in some species, males often remain with the female for a duration, engaging in multiple mating sessions.

The female spider typically remains within her web, rarely moving outside the web unless absolutely necessary.