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A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia
Paperback
September 2017
9780643107076
More details
- Publisher
CSIRO Publishing - Published
18th September 2017 - ISBN 9780643107076
- Language English
- Pages 464 pp.
- Size 5.75" x 8.5"
- Images 1,300+ color photos
$37.95
Australians have a love-hate relationship with spiders. Spiders inspire fear, especially dangerous species such as the Redback and Sydney Funnelweb. Yet Peacock Spiders, whose males spread a colorful fan and wave their legs in a courtship dance to impress females, have won rapturous appreciation worldwide.
A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia covers all known Australian spider families, using over 1,300 stunning color photographs of live animals to enable identification of commonly encountered spiders to the family level, and, in some cases, to genus and species. Highly accurate and vetted by experts, it contains the most up-to-date taxonomy information and is the most comprehensive account of Australian spiders ever published. With more than two-thirds of Australian spiders yet to be scientifically described, this field guide sets the scene for future explorations of the extraordinary Australian fauna.
For the full list of spider families included in the guide, click here.
“Read no further – unless you are willing to fall in love with spiders. Submitting to the pages that follow could change your life..."
Tim Low, excerpt from the Foreword
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
From arachnophobia to arachnophilia
How to use this book
Determining species – everything helps, including genitals
Australia’s rich arachnological history
Parts of a spider: the need-to-know terms
Shortcuts to identification
Spider families from A to Z
Araneomorphae
Mygalomorphae
Little-known Spider Families
Glossary
Photo credits
Readings
Index
Spiders: family tree
Index of family common names
Robert Whyte
Robert Whyte is an honorary researcher in arachnology at the Queensland Museum. He is an accomplished editor, author, and journalist with skills in photography and publication design.
Greg Anderson
Greg Anderson is a biomedical research scientist and heads the Chronic Disorders Program at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane. He has travelled extensively around Australia and other parts of the world studying and photographing spiders.