Mouse Spider

Facts and Information about the Mouse Spider
Did you know the following facts about the arachnid commonly known as the Mouse Spider?  Description and key features for spider Identification. The easy way to identify spiders!

Common Name and Latin Name
The Common Name and Latin Name are as follows:
Common Name (s): Mouse Spider
Latin Name: Scotophaeus blackwalli

Mouse Spider identification - what does it look like?
The male Mouse spider has long legs and palps that resemble an extra pair of legs. Mouse spiders are a black, brown colour, with a shiny carapace with a head that sits rather high, their legs are large and stocky. At the rear of their abdomens, the mouse spider has small spinnerets.

What do the Mouse Spider eat? What is its prey?
The Mouse spider eats the likes of:

• Insects.

• Any other small creatures that pass their burrow.

Is the Mouse Spider poisonous?
All types (except Uloboridae) are poisonous! The Mouse spider can give a pretty nasty bite with an unpleasant venom, however they rarely envenom a person and give a dry bite. The Mouse spider is very timid so, less aggressive to humans.

Where does the Mouse Spider live, what is its habitat?
The Mouse spider species can be found in:

• Australia

• Chile
• South America
  They live in burrows that can be as deep as 30cm with a trapdoor as the entrance. The depth of the burrow provides:
• Shelter from predators
• Shelter from parasites
• Provides low humidity
• Provides shelter from high temperatures

Does the Mouse Spider have good eyesight?
The Mouse spiders does not have great eyesight and uses its good sense of vibration, around the burrow the mouse spider has web spun across the floor so when prey passes by the mouse spider can feel through the web. 

Facts and Information about the Mouse Spider
Did you know the following facts about the arachnid commonly known as the Mouse Spider?

• Fact One - There are 11 known species

• Fact Two - Female Mouse spiders rarely leave their burrows
• Fact Three - Male Mouse spiders will leave their burrows to search for a female to mate with
• Fact Four - Mouse spiders lunge at prey as it passes the entrance to their burrow
• Fact Five - Predators of the Mouse spider include:

  • Wasps

  • Bandicoots
  • Centipedes
  • Scorpions

• Fact Six - Mouse spiders have very big fangs

• Fact Seven - Mouse spiders are rather aggressive and will attack when provoked

• Fact Eight - Mouse spiders when they bite a person, will normally give a dry bite were no venom is injected

• Fact Nine - It takes 4 years for a male Mouse spider to reach sexual maturity

• Fact Ten - Male Mouse spiders will leave their burrow during the day to find a mate, this is unusual as they normally move around during the night

• Fact Eleven - Mating normally takes place in the female Mouse spiders burrow

• Fact Twelve - The Female will lay around 60 eggs in a sack

• Fact Thirteen - The egg sack is stored in a chamber of the main shaft of the Mouse spider burrow

• Fact Fourteen - Spiderlings hatch in the summer and stay in the burrow till autumn when they will leave the burrow

Classification of the Mouse Spider
Species of spiders are classified according to shared physical characteristics. Spider taxonomy is the science of finding, describing, classifying and naming organisms in a hierarchical system. This method of classification helps when a description of 40,000 spiders is required! The organization of living things have seven major categories: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. The classification of the Mouse Spider is as follows:

Kingdom: Animalia
(Kingdom relates to the highest taxonomic group into which organisms are grouped; one of five biological categories: Monera or Protoctista or Plantae or Fungi or Animalia) :

Phylum: Arthropoda
(Phyla are groups of classes. A series of animals or plants genetically connected with shared characteristics. The second biggest grouping in taxonomy. Arthropoda are jointed-foot invertebrates: arachnids, crustaceans, insects etc

Class: Arachnida
A Class is a taxonomic group containing one or more orders. Arachnid  consist of any of the eight-legged creatures, including spiders and scorpions, of the class Arachnida

How big is the Mouse Spider?
Male Mouse Spider can grow as large as 20mm where females will grow to be 30mm long.

What is the average life span of the Mouse Spider?
Mouse spiders live for around 4 years

Order: Araneae
A taxonomic order, within the class Arachnida (spiders)

Subclass:
The Subclass is nother taxonomic category below a class and above an order which helps in the classification process

Family: Actinopodidae
Another taxonomic category below an order and above a genus which helps in the classification process.

Genus: Missulena
Another taxonomic category below a family and above the level of species which helps in the classification process.

Species:
Specis is a taxonomic group whose members can interbreed.

Spider Exterminators - Pest Control 
Generally speaking, people do not like spiders especially Mouse Spiders and most of all, do not want them in their homes! There are many forms of pest control and ways to exterminate spiders such as Mouse Spiders. There are spider exterminators, services, spider zappers, spider traps, spider repeller, spider catchers, spider traps for the removal and extermination process. Advice is available on subjects such as pest controls, pest prevention, spider catchers, spider exterminators and how to kill spiders like Mouse Spiders. Some people would like to eliminate spiders from there homes completely, this can be very difficult as an open window on a summers day will allow spiders in, even opening your front door when entering and leaving will allow pesky spiders in. It is very easy to get rid of Mouse Spiders by catching them yourself. Its best not to kill spiders as they are very important in controlling the level of other insects that are pests.