Curtain-Web Spider Identification in Australia

About the Curtain-web spider

Curtain-web spiders can look alarming because they are dark and robust, but the sheet-like or curtain-style retreat is often the strongest clue. Keep a possible funnel-web comparison cautious: web geometry, location and a clear view of the burrow entrance matter more than dark colour alone, and a suspected medically significant bite needs urgent advice rather than photo identification.

Exact-family hero photograph: Dipluridae specimen by Rodrigo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. This family-level image is not an Australian species identification.

Exact-species specimen views

These licensed exact-taxon photographs show useful anatomy and variation. Use each caption for record and image context; no single image set represents every colour, posture or habitat.

How to identify a curtain-web spider cautiously

This page is deliberately a family-and-web guide, not a species claim. In Australia the name curtain-web spider is used for several mygalomorph lineages, including Euagridae and the remaining Australian Dipluridae, and the current family boundaries do not match every older field guide. Start with the retreat: many make a broad sheet or curtain of silk that spreads from a burrow, crack, bank or tree base, often with numerous trip lines running across the surface. The spider is usually robust, dark brown to black and built like a mygalomorph, with strong fangs and a low, heavy body. A sharp image of the spider beside its entrance is more useful than a cropped dark abdomen. These clues can support “curtain-web type” or a family-level result; they do not prove a genus or species from a garden photograph.

Clues that are not enough on their own

• A dark or glossy body alone, because funnel-web, trapdoor, mouse and curtain-web groups overlap
• Any funnel-shaped web, because several unrelated spiders make funnel-like retreats
• The common name curtain-web without checking current family boundaries and locality
• A single imported photograph used as an Australian species template
• One state record or a garden setting without a clear retreat and whole spider
• Large fangs or a defensive posture, which identify a risk context rather than a species
• A web touched, sprayed or disturbed until its original shape is no longer reliable
• A cropped abdomen that hides spinnerets, leg proportions and the burrow entrance
• Assuming every robust mygalomorph in eastern Australia is a medically significant funnel-web

Colour, sex and life-stage variation

Australian curtain-web groups vary widely in size, colour, hairiness and retreat design. A large female may remain deep in the burrow while a smaller male wanders in the breeding season. Freshly moulted spiders can look pale and soft, while older adults may be nearly black or coated in soil. Some species have a clean sheet that looks like a small funnel; others have a dense curtain of silk across bark or a rock face. The three licensed photographs on this page are exact family-level Dipluridae examples from outside Australia and illustrate body plan and silk context only. They are not Australian species templates. Do not use a black body, a funnel-shaped web or a photograph match to force a species name when the locality, retreat and diagnostic anatomy are missing.

Behaviour, web and retreat

Curtain-web spiders are sit-and-wait predators. Silk trip lines and a sheet or curtain transmit vibrations from insects and other small animals to a spider hidden at the entrance. The spider may rush out, bite prey and drag it back under cover, then retreat when the surface is disturbed. Silk is also used to reinforce the burrow, protect moulting stages and anchor the entrance; a visible curtain is not the same structure as an orb web or a house spider’s lace web. Males can leave their retreats to search for females and may be encountered on the ground or in leaf litter. Never poke a web, pour water into a burrow or move logs to expose the spider. A defensive posture is a warning to step back, not a useful identification display.

Australian distribution

The World Spider Catalog and Australian checklists show that the old “Australian Dipluridae curtain-web” grouping has been revised: many genera treated by Raven in 1984 are now placed in Euagridae, while Masteria toddae is the recognised Australian Dipluridae record in current summaries. Australian genera and species occur across different parts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia, with some lineages restricted to particular ranges or forest systems. This page keeps broad mainland and Tasmania filters only as discovery prompts. A state match cannot identify a species, and a web photographed in one state should not be used to extend a named range. Keep the exact reserve or suburb, substrate, burrow entrance, season and multiple views for an arachnologist; use the broader funnel-web and trapdoor comparisons when the spider is glossy, medically concerning or too deep to photograph safely.

What to do if you find one

Treat an occupied curtain or burrow as a protected animal’s shelter. Photograph from above and from a safe angle, include the whole web and entrance, and place a ruler or familiar object beside the structure rather than touching it. Do not handle the spider, collect it from a retreat or put fingers near trip lines. Wear gloves before gardening, but do not reach into rock crevices, banks, wood piles or dense mulch where a mygalomorph may be hidden. If a spider must be moved because it is in a building, ask local wildlife or pest professionals rather than excavating the burrow. A suspected bite from an unidentified robust mygalomorph should be treated cautiously: move away, apply current Australian first-aid guidance and seek urgent medical help if severe symptoms occur or a funnel-web cannot be ruled out. Photo identification is never a reason to downgrade bite risk.

Compare with similar spiders

Use body shape, web or retreat, location and behaviour together before settling on a likely match.

• Funnel-web spiders — Australian funnel-web spiders - glossy carapace, grouped eyes and a silk-lined burrow can overlap; keep suspected funnel-web risk urgent and do not handle for a better photo.
• Trapdoor spider — Trapdoor spider - a hinged or wafer-like door and shorter, less curtain-like silk points toward an idiopid or related trapdoor group, but a hidden door is not proof.
• Black house spider — Brush-footed trapdoor spider - Barychelidae can be robust and soil dwelling, usually with a different burrow and silk arrangement; a distant dark spider remains unresolved.
• Wishbone spider — Wishbone spider - a forked burrow or paired shafts may fit a wishbone spider better than a broad curtain, but the entrance and spider must be seen safely before choosing a group.

Sources for this profile

These accessible authoritative sources support the identification and bite-safety context on this page.

• World Spider Catalog: Dipluridae family catalogue
• World Spider Catalog: Caledothele australiensis
• Australian Faunal Directory: Dipluridae
• Australian checklist: Dipluridae and Euagridae
• Raven 1984: Australian curtain-web spider systematics
• Western Australia survey: Cethegus curtain webs
• Australian Museum: Australian funnel-web spiders
• Australian Museum: Spider webs
• Wikimedia Commons: exact Dipluridae family photograph
• Wikimedia Commons: exact Euagrus family photograph
• healthdirect: Spider bites

Profile review

Published by Spider Identifier Australia. Last factual review: 13 August 2026.