Hairy Crab Spider Spinaarachne hirsuta (L. Koch, 1874)

(after Machado and Teixeira 2025): At first sight, Spinaarachne hirsuta is almost identical to its congeners when observed in dorsal habitus. However, they can be distinguished by their slightly shorter setae and wider abdominal projections, giving the opisthosoma a more “square-ended” shape, as they are commonly known. Differently, the abdominal projections in S. pilosa are conical and longer, projected backwards, while in S. aculeata they are short and directed sideways. Females of S. hirsuta have a heavily sclerotised epigynal plate, which is wide as long and present mirrored C-shaped lobes projected ectally, covering the vertically oriented copulatory openings. Females of S. pilosa, on the other hand, have a wider than long plate with copulatory openings disposed horizontally. In S. hirsuta, the first coil of the tubular spermathecae is strongly curved, “strangling” the porous glandular head, unlike in the females of S. pilosa, which present less constricted structure and the attachment point of the glandular head is clear. Males of S. hirsuta are easily distinguishable from those of S. aculeata for their larger size and more robust legs. Their pedipalps are characterised by an acute, claw-like RTAdbr emerging from the same basis of the long and spoon-shaped RTAvbr, while males of S. aculeata have a blunt-tippped RTAdbr that grows at mid-height of the RTAvbr.

• native

• New South Wales
• Queensland
• Tasmania