Missulena bradleyi
Eastern Mouse Spider Identification: Missulena bradleyi
Stocky eastern Australian mouse spider with a very wide shiny head and jaws, short spinnerets and, in mature males, a pale blue-grey abdominal patch.
Medically significantEastern mouse spiders are robust burrowing spiders that can be mistaken for funnel-webs, especially when a dark male is wandering after rain. The safest identification starts with the mouse-spider structure: a very wide, shiny head and jaw region, small eyes spread across the front of the carapace and short rear spinnerets. Mature Missulena bradleyi males add a useful pale blue-grey or whitish patch at the front of the abdomen. Females are larger, stockier and mostly uniform black, so an ordinary photograph may support only Missulena rather than the exact species. Because a bite can produce serious funnel-web-like effects, never handle a suspected mouse spider to check a mark.
Quick identification
- Very wide, bulbous and glossy black head and jaw region
- Small eyes spread across the front of the carapace rather than forming an obvious tight central cluster
- Short spinnerets at the rear of the abdomen
- Mature male may show a pale blue-grey to white patch across the front of the abdomen
- Soft-soil trapdoor burrow or a wandering male in daylight during autumn to early winter
What to check next
Keep your distance and photograph the entire spider from above, including the rear of the abdomen. Check the wide head, spread front eyes, short spinnerets and any pale anterior abdominal patch. A uniformly dark female or a photo that misses the eyes and spinnerets should remain at mouse-spider or large-mygalomorph level.
When to seek medical help
Treat a suspected eastern mouse spider bite as a medical emergency. Call Triple Zero (000), keep the person lying still and apply a pressure-immobilisation bandage to the bitten limb if trained, then splint the limb and wait for the ambulance. Do not wash the bite site, cut or suck the wound, or use a tourniquet. Healthdirect recommends pressure immobilisation specifically for funnel-web or mouse spider bites and for bites from an unidentified big black hairy spider. Serious mouse-spider envenomation is uncommon, but photo identification must not be used to delay emergency care.
Where it is usually seen
Silk-lined trapdoor burrows in soft soil in forests, woodland, gardens and other ground habitat across documented parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Mature males may wander into open areas, pools or buildings while searching for females.