Scorpion-tailed Spider

SCORPION-TAILED SPIDER

Arachnura higginsi is also known as the Tailed Spider or Scorpion Tailed Spider. It is a common Austalian spider that occurs in many parts of Australia. The Scorpion Tailed Spider body is various shades of brown but most commonly fawn with a black tip on the end of the abdomen. The female has long tail that can be curled over the body, making it looks a bit like a scorpion. The tip of the tail often has a number of black lobes which are soft and unable to sting or inflict any sort of wound. The female spider spins and builds a permanent but incomplete small orb web near the ground to foliage. The female can grow up to 11mm which is larger than the male which can only grow to 3mm. This probably  makes the female spider more dominant, they always stays in centre of her web during the daytime while the male that is smaller and has no tail, may be found on the edge of the web. This spider have a special breeding method, in late summer and autumn, the female Scorpion Tailed Spider produces a series of woolly yellowish egg sacs which she strings up in a line from the centre of the web to fill the missing section. The egg sacs are often camouflaged with debris and the spider sits at the bottom of the string in the centre of the web. Bites from them are rare because they usually will not attack people if it’s not provoked, but the bite from them are not deadly it only results in minor symptoms such as local pain and swelling. 

 

Their 'scorpion tails' are harmless, they're just lobe-like structures.