SPIDER IN POST

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21223, 20 September 1940, Page 7

SPIDER IN POST

REQUEST TO NEWSPAPER A slight departure from routine inquiries was received this week, states the Dominion, Wellington, in the form of a tin containing a coalblack spider, big as a half-crown, alive and annoyed, but definitely pleased to see somebody on whom he might vent his irritation at his tumbled journey through the post. Under separate cover came a letter from Greytown, explaining that the finder of the spider had a large number in his garden and was anxious to learn about its diet and habits. He said also that another insect from the same burrow was enclosed, but this was no longer so; the spider had lunched in transit.

The spider was identified by the Dominion Museum entomologist, Mr J. T. Salmon, as Porrothele Antipodia, one of New Zealand’s largest spiders, and capable of giving a noxious bite when roused. This spider is very common in parts of New Zealand, including Wellington. It builds in somewhat shapeless mesh web, centring round a tunnel of silk, often lining a natural hole or cranny, extending under leg or stone, or lining a burrow in the ground. It lives omnivorously on whatever insects trample on the outskirts of its web, rushing out with great alacrity and seizing therm