Black Wishbone Spider

Facts about Black Wishbone Spiders, "Scientific name for Black Wishbone Spider is Amame atra". The black Wishbone Spider ranges from small to large although most are medium sized and have 2 finger-like spinnerets at the end of their bodies. The Black Wishbone Spiders are usually confused with Funnelwebs (Trapdoor spiders) because of being too black. However, unlike Funnelweb spiders, wishbone spiders have either a silvery (males) or golden (females) appearance that is caused by some fine hairs on the head.

Australia has the largest number of black wishbone spiders where they are found in all habitats. Most are found in South Australia with Queensland boasting of the highest number.

Black Wishbone Spiders have thin and very long legs with either one or two fangs on the tibia, a small joint, of the first leg. The spines serve to safely lock the female’s fangs during mating.

Males are about 1 inch (25 mm) long while females are 1 3/8 inches (35 mm) long. Males wander at night searching for females to mate with especially after spring and autumn rains.

The Black Wishbone Spiders feed at night by ambushing passing insects at their burrows entrance. The Black Wishbone Spider lacks the ability to climb vertical surfaces that are smooth.

Black wishbone spiders have long fangs that can cause a deep wound on human flesh. The venom from the Black Wishbone Spiders is not as toxic as that from the closely related Funnelwebs. This venom is usually of minor medical concern.

A Black Wishbone Spiders stomach can only take liquids, so a Black Wishbone Spider needs to liquefy their food before they eat. They bite on their prey and empty its stomach liquids into the pray which turns it into a soup for them to drink.

A male Black Wishbone Spider has two appendages called "pedipalps" a sensory organ, instead of a penis, which is filled with sperm and insert by the male into the female Black Wishbone Spider’s reproductive opening.

The Black Wishbone Spiders build burrows with open entrances and that are 13 3/4 to 15 3/4 inches (35 to 40 cm) deep. These burrows are more common on flat grounds. The entrances to the burrows are usually Y shaped where one side of the entrance acts as escape routes when a potential predator attacks while the other side is covered with an odorless silk. It is at the silk covered entrance that the Black Wishbone Spiders ambush prey.

Spiders belong to a group of animals called "arachnids", mites and Scorpions and a tick is also in the arachnid family. An Arachnids is a creature with eight legs, two body parts, no antennae or wings and are not able to chew on food. Spiders are not insects because insects have three main body parts and six legs and most insects have wings.

The Arachnids are even in a larger group of animals called "arthropods" an invertebrate animal of the large phylum Arthropoda, which also include spiders, crustaceans and insects. They are the largest group in the animal world, about 80% of all animals come from this group. There are over a million different species. There are more than 40,000 different types of spiders in the world.

Spiders have oversize brains.
In the spider the oxygen is bound to "hemocyanin" a copper-based protein that turns their blood blue, a molecule that contains copper rather than iron. Iron-based hemoglobin in red blood cells turns the blood red

Black Wishbone Spiders have two body parts, the front part of the body is called the Cephalothorax-(the thorax and fused head of spiders). Also on this part of the body is the Black Wishbone Spider’s gland that makes the poison and the stomach, fangs, mouth, legs, eyes and brain. Black Wishbone Spiders also have these tiny little leg-type things called (pedipalps) that are next to the fangs. They are used to hold food while the spider bites it. The next part of the Black Wishbone Spiders body is the abdomen and the abdomens back end is where there is the spinnerets and where the silk producing glands are located.

The muscles in a Black Wishbone Spiders legs pull them inward, but the spider can't extend its legs outward. It will pump a watery liquid into its legs that pushes them out. A Black Wishbone Spider’s legs and body are covered with lots of hair and these hairs are water-repellent, which trap a thin layer of air around the body so the spiders body doesn't get wet. It allows them to float, this is how some spiders can survive under water for hours. Each Black Wishbone Spiders leg has six joints, giving the Black Wishbone Spider 48 leg joints. The Black Wishbone Spider’s body has oil on it, so the spider doesn't stick to it’s own web.

Black Wishbone Spiders do not have a skeletons. They have a hard outer shell called an exoskeleton-(a rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals). The exoskeleton is hard, so it can’t grow with the spider. The young Black Wishbone Spiders need to shed their exoskeleton. The Black Wishbone Spider has to climb out of the old shell through the cephalothorax. Once out, they must spread themselves out before the new exoskeleton will harden. Now they have some room to grow. They stop growing once they fill this shell. Female Black Wishbone Spiders are usually bigger than males.
Female Black Wishbone Spiders lay eggs on a bed of silk, which she creates right after mating. Once the female Black Wishbone Spider lays her eggs, she will than cover them with more silk.