Australian funnel-web spider

Atracidae is a family of mygalomorph spiders, commonly known as Australian funnel-web spiders or atracids. It has been included as a subfamily of the Hexathelidae, but is now recognized as a separate family. All members of the family are native to Australia. Atracidae consists of three genera: Atrax, Hadronyche, and Illawarra, comprising 35 species. Some members of the family produce venom, which is dangerous to humans, and bites by spiders of six of the species have caused severe injuries to victims. The bite of the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus) and northern tree-dwelling funnel-web spider (Hadronyche formidabilis) are potentially deadly, but no fatalities have occurred since the introduction of modern first-aid techniques and antivenom. Spiders in the family Atracidae are medium to large in size, with body lengths ranging from 1 to 5 cm (0.4 to 2.0 in). They have a hairless carapace covering the front part of the body. Some atracids have relatively long spinnerets; this is especially true of the Sydney funnel-web spider (A. robustus). Males have a large mating spur projecting from the middle of their second pair of legs.Like other Mygalomorphae – an infraorder of spiders that includes the tropical tarantulas – these spiders have fangs that point straight down the body and do not point towards each other (cf. Araneomorphae). They have ample venom glands that lie entirely within their chelicerae. Their fangs are large and powerful, capable of penetrating fingernails and soft shoes. Australian funnel-web spiders make their burrows in moist, cool, sheltered habitats – under rocks, in and under rotting logs, some in rough-barked trees (occasionally meters above ground). They are commonly found in suburban rockeries and shrubberies, rarely in lawns or other open terrain. A burrow characteristically has irregular silk trip-lines radiating from the entrance. Unlike some related trapdoor spiders, they do not build lids to their burrows. The primary range of the Australian funnel-web spiders is the eastern coast of Australia, with specimens found in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland. The only Australian states or territories without members of this family are Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The first atracid spider, Hadronyche cerberea, was described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1873. Octavius Pickard-Cambridge described another atracid species, A. robustus, four years later. For a considerable time, confusion existed as to the limits of the genera Hadronyche and Atrax, not helped by the destruction of the type specimens of Hadronyche cerberea during World War II. In 1980, Robert J. Raven merged the two genera under Atrax. In 1988, Michael R. Gray separated them again, and in 2010, added a third genus, Illawarra. The family placement of the group has varied. In 1892, Eugène Simon placed Atrax and Hadronyche in the family Dipluridae. In 1901, Henry R. Hogg considered them to be sufficiently distinctive to form a separate group, which he called 'Atraceae' – the basis of the modern family name Atracidae. When in the 1980s, Raven elevated part of Simon's Dipluridae to the family Hexathelidae, he included the atracine group. Molecular phylogenetic studies consistently threw doubt on the monophyly of the Hexathelidae. In 2018, the group was restored to a full family as Atracidae. The following cladogram shows the relationship found between Atracidae and related taxa. Its sister taxon is Actinopodidae. As of April 2019, the World Spider Catalog accepts the following genera: