Page thirty-eight 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
July, 1952 
OUR LARGEST SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SPIDER 
By H. WOMERSLEY 
( Entomologist , S.Aust. Museum ) 
Recently two specimens of our largest 
spider, Selenocosmia stirlingi Hogg, 1901, 
have been sent in to the South Australian 
Museum for identification. One specimen 
was from Berri, the other was brought in 
by Mr. T. R. N. Lothian, from Loxton. 
This spider is closely related to the more 
familiar trapdoor spiders of the Family 
Aviculariidae. It is placed scientifically in 
the subfamily Aviculariinae in having only 
two tarsal claws (the inferior third claw 
being obsolete), and in the tarsi being fur- 
nished with a ventral scopula of hairs. 
The Aviculariinae contains a number of 
genera, the species of which are generally 
of large size, mostly found in tropical 
regions, and frequently referred to as 
Mygales or bird-eating spiders. They are 
generally very hairy and ferocious creatures 
and like the trapdoor relatives have power- 
ful jaws which act in a downward direction. 
Their bite is very poisonous and often fatal. 
Selenocosmia comes into the section 
Sclenocosmieae in having the tarsal scopu- 
lae entire and not divided longitudinally, 
in the legs being devoid of spines and in 
the tarsi being obtuse apically and slightly 
narrower than the metatarsi. 
Of the genus only two species are known 
with certainty from Australia, S. crassipes, 
L. Koch and S. stirlingi Hogg. 
.S', stirlingi is rather lighter in colour 
than crassipes , and has the front row of 
eyes lying in a straight line, whereas in 
crassipes they are said to be procurved; that 
is the curve is convex when viewed from in 
front. 
Both species are quite large, about 1|- 
2 inches in length, and having a leg span 
of about 4 inches. Like most of the trap- 
door spiders they are nocturnal in habit. 
They tunnel in fairly hard ground, making 
a slanting tunnel lined with silk to a 
depth of a foot or more, at the bottom of 
which is a rough chamber. A specimen of 
crassipes from the runway of the aerodrome 
at Tennant Creek, which was kept alive for 
some months in the Museum recently, also 
spun a considerable area of silk over the 
ground surrounding the tunnel entrance. 
These spiders do not construct a trapdoor 
of any kind. S. stirlingi, although not 
common, is widely distributed, and Hogg 
(1901) states that he met with it from New 
Guinea, through Queensland to the north- 
ern borders of New South Wales, through 
Central and South Australia, and from the 
latitude of Perth in Western Australia. 
S. crassipes is rarer and appears more in the 
drier areas. 
Rainbow and Pulleine 1918 (Rec. Aust. 
Mus.) recorded S. stirlingi from Pichi Richi 
and Mallala and in the South Australian 
Museum are also numerous specimens from 
Orroroo, and others from Wilmington, 
Booleroo Centre, Broken Hill, Caliph and 
Mt. Burrell. 
S. crassipes is represented by a specimen 
collected by the Horn Expedition, and 
specimens from Darwin and Tennant 
Creek. 
THE COLOURED BULB OF 
DROSERA WHITT AKERI 
“In the hills around Adelaide there 
grew a species of Drosera (Drosera Whit- 
takeri) which had a small coloured bulb. 
Rennie, interested to find out what was 
the colouring matter, isolated droserne, 
and Professor Macbeth had continued the 
investigation of this compound and re- 
lated substances. Droserne had no econom- 
ic importance and remained a compound 
only ol academic interest. But in the dis- 
covery of vitamin K the absorption spec- 
trum showed that it was related to dros- 
erne, and with the help of this earlier 
work its constitution was established by 
degradation and synthesis within six weeks 
of its discovery/' 
Extract from Professor L. H. Briggs’ 
(Auckland) Presidential Address to Sec- 
tion B, Australasian and New Zealand As- 
sociation A.L.V. of Science, Brisbane, May, 
1951. Vide: Med. J. of Australia, August 
4, 1951, p. 168. — J.B.C. 
