Queensland Museum New Spider Exhibition

WhistlingKite24

WhistlingKite24

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
The Queensland Museum is opening a temporary spider exhibition with 200 museum specimens and 12 live spiders on 6th December. This exhibition is part of a touring exhibition that was jointly developed by the Australian Museum and Questacon.
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According to the article below, some of the live specimens will include Sydney Funnel Web, a newly-described species of trapdoor spider discovered in south-east Queensland, huntsman spiders and Australian tarantulas.
Even thought it's temporary, it's great that the museum will have a few more live exhibits.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/na...ds-into-the-spider-verse-20190925-p52uv3.html
 
I visited the spider exhibition this morning and saw a good range of live spider species. The museum displays and taxidermied specimens were all very well-done. I particularly liked the large spider models.
Back to the live spider exhibits, I was able to see every species and the trapdoor spiders were all seen in their burrows. The jumping spider and the Maleny palisade trapdoor spider (a newly-described species which only occurs near the Sunshine Coast town of Maleny) were particularly interesting. All the tanks were nicely-furnished and the water spider tank was probably the largest.
The social huntsman tank was really neat. There was a glass panel inside in the tank where all the spiders flattened their bodies and squeezed into. In the wild, they live in groups and hide under tree bark. They even share their prey amongst each other.

Social Huntsman Spiders (Delena cancerides)

Social Huntsman Spiders (Delena cancerides)


There was also a short presentation where the presenter fed four species of huntsman spider (grey, brown, badge and communal huntsman). When he was handling the large grey huntsman spider, the spider decided to jump onto the table and scurry towards the audience. I have never seen a crowd of people and prams move so fast.:p

Grey Huntsman Spider (Holconia immanis)

Grey Huntsman Spider (Holconia immanis)


More photos can be seen here: Queensland Museum - ZooChat

List of Live Spiders Seen:
Giant Water Spider (Megadolomedes australianus)
Social Huntsman (Delena cancerides)
Fringed Jumping Spider (Portia fimbriata)
Net-casting Spider (Deinopis sp.)
Sydney Funnel Web (Atrax robustus)
Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasseltii)
Brush Tarantula (Coremiocnemis tropix)
Whistling Tarantula (Phlogius sp.)
Feather-legged Tarantula (Selenotypus plumipes)
St Andrew’s Cross (Argiope keyserlingi)
Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila sp.)
Maleny Palisade Trapdoor Spider (Euoplos turrificus)

The following four species were seen during a short presentation that involved feeding the spiders:
Brown Huntsman (Heteropoda jugulans)
Grey Huntsman Spider (Holconia immanis)
Badge Huntsman (Neosparassus sp.)
Social Huntsman (Delena cancerides)
 
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