Hadronyche valida
Border Ranges Funnel-Web Spider (Hadronyche valida) Identification
A Queensland–New South Wales border-country funnel-web, Hadronyche valida, best treated as a possible species only after specialist review; any plausible funnel-web bite is an emergency.
Medical emergency potentialThe Border Ranges funnel-web spider, Hadronyche valida, is an accepted Australian funnel-web species recorded from Queensland and New South Wales. The common name is useful regional context, not a visual diagnosis. It shares the robust glossy mygalomorph form and silk-lined retreat habits of other eastern Australian funnel-webs, while close Hadronyche can overlap in colour, build and setting. A dark robust spider in moist sheltered forest country may be a possible match, but adult anatomical characters and a reliable locality are needed to identify H. valida. Do not handle, provoke or collect one for a photograph. For public safety, treat any plausible funnel-web bite as an Australian medical emergency regardless of the name applied to the spider.
Quick identification
- Robust, dark brown to black mygalomorph with a glossy hard-looking carapace
- Silk-lined ground retreat or sheltered hole under a rock, log or tree-base feature
- Moist, humid and shaded Queensland–New South Wales border-country setting is useful context
- Rear spinnerets and powerful vertical fangs support a possible funnel-web group match
- Adult reproductive structures and fine leg characters, not a phone photo, are needed for H. valida certainty
What to check next
Stay clear, keep children and pets back, and record only a broad locality, habitat and safe zoom photographs. Do not test a burrow with a stick, lift its shelter or try to inspect fangs, spinnerets or leg spines. If the spider is indoors and immediate isolation is necessary, use a deep smooth-sided container and stiff card only when it can be done without close handling; otherwise use a trained professional. A possible bite always takes priority over identification.
When to seek medical help
Treat a suspected bite from this spider, or from any big dark funnel-web-type spider in eastern Australia, as an emergency. Call 000 immediately. Keep the person still and lying down, apply a pressure-immobilisation bandage and splint if trained and equipped, and follow emergency instructions. Do not wash the bite, cut it, suck it, use ice or a tourniquet, or delay first aid to catch the spider. A safe photo can help later, but hospital clinicians decide treatment.
Where it is usually seen
Moist, humid sheltered country in the Queensland–New South Wales border region, including closed or open forest, rainforest margins, soil beneath rocks or logs, tree-base crevices and other protected burrow sites. Research animals were collected from burrows in Currumbin Valley and Mount Tamborine, useful range examples rather than a complete map. A dark spider in a garden, shed or pool area may be a wandering funnel-web or another mygalomorph; the built setting alone does not establish H. valida.