Australian funnel-web spider

arachnid

Also known as: Atracidae

Written by

Melissa Petruzzello

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Taxonomy See also list of spiders. Australian funnel-web spider, (family Atracidae), any of about 35 species and three genera of spiders native to southern and eastern Australia, several of which are potentially medically significant to humans. As burrowing spiders, they are named for their funnel-shaped webs, which open wide at the mouth of an underground tube. The burrows are typically built under rocks and in crevices or in and under rotting logs, and some arboreal...