The newly-named Atrax christenseni funnel-web (or ‘Big Boy) which can be found in Newcastle. Photo: supplied/Kane Christensen.
Sydney’s famous funnel-web spider has long been thought of as a single species but there may actually be three, new research has found.
An international team has revised the classification of the spider in research published in the BMC Ecology and Evolution journal by scientists from Germany, Sydney and Adelaide.
The team used anatomical and DNA comparisons to study different populations of Sydney funnel-web spiders, documenting three distinct distinctions they said.
There is the “classic” Sydney (found from Central Coast to the Sydney Basin), southern Sydney (most common in the Blue Mountains) and Newcastle funnel-webs (dubbed ‘Big Boy’ by spider lovers).
“Our research uncovered hidden diversity among funnel-web spiders,” noted lead researcher Dr Stephanie Loria from Germany.
“The Newcastle funnel-web is a totally new species.
“The ‘true’ Sydney funnel-web centres on Sydney’s North Shore and Central Coast and the Southern Sydney funnel-web has a resurrected species name from 1914,” Dr Loria said.
Dr Helen Smith, an arachnologist (spider biologist) at the Australian Museum and co-author of the research, said the Sydney funnel-web’s differences had been difficult to analyse.
“When our international team of researchers ‘reopened the case’ on the Sydney funnel-web, we … found the species split into three distinct groups,” she said.
The research team collected new specimens of funnel-webs from across the Sydney region and compared newly collected spiders with older specimens in the Australian Museum collections dating back to the early 1900s.
Dr Danilo Harms, co-lead author, said the revised taxonomy for funnel-web spiders may have practical implications for antivenom production and biochemical studies on spider venoms.
“Since 1981, the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, NSW, runs a venom milking program to gather venom from Sydney funnel-web spiders for antivenom production,” Dr Harms explained.
“Although no human fatalities have occurred since the development of antivenom in the 1980s, the antivenom for Sydney funnel-web spiders might be optimised by considering biological differentiation at the species level.”
Nevertheless, the current antivenom remains effective not only against all Sydney funnel-web spider species “but also other related species that can cause serious envenomation in eastern Australia”, Dr Smith said.
Chief Scientist and director of Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI), Professor Kris Helgen said spiders are impressive animals with incredible adaptations, including keen senses, spun silk, and a highly effective venom injection system.
“Spiders are older than the dinosaurs. In more than 300 million years of existence, they’ve mastered nearly every environment on Earth and play a vital role across global ecosystems.
“They are astonishingly diverse: there are about 52,500 known living spider species, and potentially many more to discover,” Prof Helgen said.
