Port Macquarie Funnel-Web Identification: H. macquariensis

About the Port Macquarie funnel-web spider

The Port Macquarie funnel-web, Hadronyche macquariensis, is a medically important ground-dwelling funnel-web from mid-north-eastern New South Wales. Its common name is regional: museum material extends well beyond Port Macquarie, from the Forster and Gloucester districts north through Taree, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen to the lower Clarence and Evans Head area. Start with the safer family-level match—a robust dark mygalomorph with a hard glossy carapace, tightly grouped eyes, powerful parallel-moving jaws and conspicuous rear spinnerets—then add a silk-lined ground retreat and a supported locality. Colour, suburb or a pool encounter cannot prove this species, and the adult characters that separate close Hadronyche require expert examination. Any suspected bite is a medical emergency even when the photograph is poor or the species is uncertain.

How to identify Hadronyche macquariensis safely

Begin at family level. Australian funnel-web spiders have a compact mygalomorph build, a hard glossy carapace with little obvious dorsal pattern, a softer hairier abdomen, powerful jaws that strike downwards in parallel, a tight eye cluster and four spinnerets at the rear. The longer posterior pair is a useful funnel-web clue when it is already visible in a zoomed photograph; never move closer to inspect it. Gray’s 2010 revision measured the H. macquariensis male holotype at about 20.7 mm body length and a female paratype at about 26.1 mm, excluding legs. These are individual specimen measurements, not absolute limits. Exact diagnosis is not photographic: adult males are separated from close Hadronyche by the shape and offset of the mating-organ embolus, the weakly concave second tibia and its spine pattern. Those microscope characters belong with an arachnologist, not a live-spider test. Use H. macquariensis only when broad funnel-web structure, the documented NSW region and specialist evidence agree; otherwise stop at Australian funnel-web or Hadronyche.

Clues that are not enough on their own

• Glossy black or dark-brown colour alone, because funnel-webs, mouse spiders and trapdoor relatives can share it
• Being found in Port Macquarie or elsewhere on the mid-north coast without the broad funnel-web structure and expert adult anatomy
• A silk-lined hole or two burrow entrances without seeing the resident spider; several unrelated ground spiders use silk retreats
• A pool, bathroom, rain or night-time encounter, which can involve many wandering ground spiders
• Large fangs, a defensive posture or a close online photo match, none of which safely establishes H. macquariensis

Colour, sex and life-stage variation

A likely Port Macquarie funnel-web may appear black, dark chocolate, mahogany or reddish brown as moisture, age, flash and reflected light change the glossy surface. The hard carapace is usually shinier than the softer abdomen. Mature males tend to be slimmer and leggier with enlarged palps and are more often noticed wandering; females are broader-bodied and stay associated with a burrow, while juveniles may look browner and less heavily hardened. The scientific description records a slightly longer-than-wide carapace in both sexes, but the exact species still depends on adult anatomy. This profile deliberately carries no photograph at present: the former images were a Blue Mountains funnel-web, Hadronyche versuta, and a family-level atracid retreat, not verified H. macquariensis. A labelled close relative is useful for comparison but must not be presented as this species.

Behaviour, web and retreat

H. macquariensis is a ground-retreat funnel-web. Gray’s revision illustrates an exact-species silk-lined burrow with two entrances on a soil bank. Across Australian atracids, the entrance is commonly a partly collapsed crescent opening with silk trip lines radiating over nearby soil, bark or litter; the lined tunnel leads to a sheltered chamber and may exploit a root channel, rock edge or decayed timber. This is not the broad flat sheet web of an unrelated funnel weaver and not a neat circular orb. A resident female or juvenile can remain hidden deep inside, whereas a mature male may leave shelter to seek a mate during humid conditions and be encountered on paths, indoors or in a pool. None of rain, darkness, swimming-pool location or a silk-lined hole identifies the species by itself. Treat a motionless waterlogged spider as alive, and never stimulate trip lines to make the resident emerge.

Australian distribution

The species was named for the Port Macquarie region, where Gray described it as common, but its type series and examined museum material define a broader mid-north-eastern NSW range. Records include Gloucester and the Allyn River district inland; Burgess Beach, Forster, Taree and Port Macquarie; Bellingen, Nambucca Heads, Coffs Harbour and nearby coastal localities; and farther north around Maclean, Chatsworth Island, Evans Head and the lower Clarence. The Australian Faunal Directory and Atlas of Living Australia retain it as a NSW species. This range is a strong filtering clue, not proof from a postcode, and the common name must not be confused with Lake Macquarie near Newcastle. Other Hadronyche, Atrax, mouse spiders and trapdoor relatives occur in parts of eastern NSW. Keep an approximate locality, date, habitat and untouched photographs for expert review, but do not publish a vulnerable household coordinate.

What to do if you find one

Keep children and pets away and do not touch, corner or provoke the spider. Do not put fingers beneath rocks, logs, edging or dense ground cover around a suspect retreat, and do not dig or pour water into the burrow for a photograph. If nobody has been bitten, isolate the immediate area and photograph only with zoom when it can be done without moving closer. A licensed pest professional is safer than bare-handed relocation. Only a confident adult should consider a wide-container and stiff-card capture when hands can remain well away and there is no fall or bite risk; leaving the spider and closing the area is preferable. If a bite may have occurred, stop all capture and identification attempts, call 000, keep the person still and begin pressure immobilisation immediately. Do not wait for pain, sweating, tingling around the mouth, nausea, twitching, breathing difficulty or confusion. The historical clinical literature includes a life-threatening Port Macquarie funnel-web envenomation, so an uncertain field identification must never delay emergency care.

Compare with similar spiders

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

• Australian funnel-web spiders — Australian funnel-web spiders - use the broader atracid page when the hard glossy carapace, compact eye group, strong jaws and rear spinnerets fit but the locality, sex, retreat or specialist anatomy cannot establish H. macquariensis. This is the correct outcome for many photographs.
• Sydney funnel-web spider — Sydney funnel-web spider - Atrax robustus is centred much farther south around the Sydney basin and adjoining districts, but both can be robust dark ground-burrow funnel-webs. Common-name geography and a wandering male are not enough; expert anatomy separates them.
• Newcastle funnel-web spider — Newcastle funnel-web spider - this regional page covers a Hunter-area funnel-web route south of the documented H. macquariensis core. “Port Macquarie” and “Lake Macquarie” are different places, and a specimen near the boundary should remain at family or genus level without expert confirmation.
• Mouse spider — Mouse spider - Missulena can also be dark, glossy, robust and medically significant, but usually has a broader bulbous head, eyes spread farther across the front and shorter spinnerets. Never approach a live spider to check; a suspected bite receives the same emergency response.

Sources for this profile

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

• Australian Faunal Directory: Hadronyche macquariensis
• Atlas of Living Australia: Hadronyche macquariensis
• Australian Museum: Australian funnel-web spiders
• Records of the Australian Museum: Revision of the Australian funnel-web spiders
• Australian Museum: Systematic review of funnel-web spider bites
• Sydney Children's Hospitals Network: Spider bites factsheet
• healthdirect: Spider bites

Profile review

Published by Spider Identifier Australia. Last factual review: 10 August 2026.