This story began with the white-tailed spider.

White-tailed spider attacked (click to enlarge)

Then BAM! Our mystery defender strikes!

Notice that our white-tail is limping away on the upper-right of the frame. I knew white tails hunted other spiders and that they were relatively fast walkers whilst stalking around my ceilings at night, but this spider which has just defended itself - easily of equal size - just came out like lightning and whack - chomped down on the white-tail.

Grey house spider (Badumna longinquus) (click to enlarge)

The battle is over with a single strike. The white-tail is happy to call it quits and hobble away with one leg covered in the house spider's venom. I don't know how susceptible white-tails are to the venom of other spiders. Meanwhile this guy sits at the edge of his funnel and watches the white-tail go.

Grey house spider (Badumna longinquus) (click to enlarge)

So who is our victor?

Well today I discovered the most fascinating bug website on the web. No spidery puns intended. I'll be sending a link to this article over to "What's that bug?" to get their opinion on the matter.

In the meantime, my best guess is that this is a grey house spider. Before today I'd never heard of a grey house spider, but I had certainly heard of the closely related black house spider.

Grey house spider (Badumna longinquus) (click to enlarge)

The Australian Museum fact sheet on Sydney funnel web spiders describes funnel webs as having a shiny carapace (main body part), no pattern on the abdomen and usually obvious spinnerets. Our interloper fails on all counts.

The Grey house spider fact sheet offers a description a little closer to the mark: "[the grey house spider has] a greyish carapace and grey-brown banded legs. The webs of Black [and grey] House Spiders have a 'funnel-like' shape, which is sometimes misunderstood as a Funnel-web Spider web. However, the two spiders are not at all similar in appearance, size or life history".

Grey house spider (Badumna longinquus) (click to enlarge)

Although this spider's legs are more reddish than grey, they are in fact banded and the rest of the body description matches the grey house spider. We had a black house spider living on the porch for most of this year and when we came home at night we were sometimes lucky enough to spy it sitting just outside its funnel. As soon as it saw us come close, however, it would retreat like a bullet back into its lair.

Today's grey house spider was every bit as lightning fast and I tell you what - don't go sticking your fingers down spider holes!

Grey house spider (Badumna longinquus) (click to enlarge)

After one last scout around, this spider is headed back into his hole. This rear view is great for illustrating the lack of obvious spinnerets.

I hope you've enjoyed this series of spider encounters.

ATTENTION!

For goodness sakes - DO NOT HANDLE ANY SPIDER unless you really, really, really, really, really know what you're doing. Especially if you're visiting Australia!

And lastly - most spiders are in fact harmless and most spiders will shy away from you. They do a great job of regulating populations of nastier bugs like disease-spreading mosquitoes. If at all possible - don't kill them. I have two toddlers in my house and we've removed half a dozen white-tails in the last 18 months. I educate my children and rescue the spiders. Better yet - clear your eaves of cobwebs - this takes away one of the white-tail's primary food sources!