PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds

PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds
PLANT
DAMAGE
DIRECT CHEWING DAMAGE.
Spiders are carnivorous and rarely eat plants. However, the jumping
spider (Plexippus validus) has been seen eating Euryopis splendens.
LIST OF SOME
SPECIES
Tree funnel web spider
(Hadronche formidabilis)
usually lives in trees, is
very toxic but is not often
encountered.
Gerozisis,J., Hadlington,P. &
Staunton,I. 2008. Urban Pest
Management in Australia.
UNSW Press, Sydney.
Garden
INDIRECT DAMAGE.
Spiders web foliage on citrus and other plants, which interferes with
the normal development of foliage and fruit and protect pests such as
mealybugs and scale. They can annoy pickers harvesting the fruit.
They inhabit flowers, leaves and bark where they catch insects and
other prey. However, their presence may be a quarantine problem. Spiders
hitch rides on second hand cars.
Some species are venomous. Spiders may arouse strong negative feelings,
eg arachnophobia (a fear of spiders).
COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME HABITS
TOXICITY
GROUND-DWELLING SPIDERS (various families)
Sydney funnelweb Atrax robustus Favours moist dark situations.
Aggressive. Very toxic. Adopts a threatening Long silken tube through litter
Male more toxic position if threatened in ground. Active during late
than female.
summer and autumn
Sydney brown trapdoor
Not aggressive. Not toxic.
Bites usually painful.
Mouse spiders
Not aggressive. Toxic.
Strong fangs,
bite may be painful.
Misgolas rapax
Missulena spp.
Wolf spiders
Lycosa spp.
Not aggressive. Some toxic.
Bite may be painful
for a short while.
ORB WEAVING SPIDERS (Family Araneidae)
orbweaving spider Eriophora spp.
Not aggressive. Not toxic.
Seldom bites.
St Andrew’s cross spider Argiope keyserlingii
Not aggressive. Not toxic.
Leaf-curling spider Phonognatha graeffei
Not aggressive. Not toxic.
OTHER SPIDERS (various families)
Redback spider
Lacrodectus hasselti
Not aggressive. Very toxic.
Females bite, male does not.
Very painful.
Daddy-longlegs spider Pholcus phalangioides
Not aggressive. Very toxic
venom, but fangs too short to
penetrate human skin.
Black house spider Badumna insignis
Not aggressive. Toxic. Bite
produces pain, nausea,
sweating. No fatalities.
Brown house spider
Probably as for
black house spider
Flower spiders
Harmless.
Whitetailed spider
Not aggressive.
Bites cause local pain and
blisters, tissue necrosis.
Huntsman spider
Not aggressive. Not toxic.
Bites can be painful but rare
210 Insects and allied pests - Spiders (Arachnida, Araneida)
Inhabits drier situations in
exposed areas. Lid not usually
over hole but leaves or litter
may cover it
Females live in holes (with
double doors) in the ground.
Holes may be extensive. Adult
male roams looking for female
Inhabits gardens, making holes
in ground covered with litter.
Moves rapidly when disturbed.
Orb-web, hides on foliage
during day and constructs orbweb
at night
Orb-web, hangs in web with
legs in shape of cross
Orb-web, hides in curled leaf
or paper at centre of the web
Makes a loose web in protected
sites, rubbish, tin cans, bricks,
unsewered toilets, under houses.
Dark corners of buildings,
houses, eaves
Felted webs at the centre of
which is a tunnel, sheds, toilets,
windows, under guttering
B. longinqua Foliage of fruit trees in boundary
rows near scrub webbed together
to catch insects
Diaea spp., others
Lampona cylindrata
Isopeda immanis
Live among flowers and leaves
of native shrubs, eg grevillea
Found under bark of trees,
often inside bathrooms, houses
Lives under bark, emerges at
night, often enters houses
Endangered Intertidal trapdoor spider Idioctis yerlata Mangroves, Cape Tribulation, Qld
Not known
in Australia
Goliath birdeater tarantula Theraphosa blondi Frogs, mice, insects, but is not
known to eat birds