Some observations of a Bird-dropping spider Celaenia excavata at Notting Hill, Victoria

摘要

On 29 March 2015, while hanging some washing on the line under laserlite roofing at the back of our house in the Melbourne suburb of Notting Hill, I noticed a bird-dropping-like lump, about 12 mm across, on one of the wooden clothes pegs. I knew it could not be a real bird-dropping, because the location was inaccessible to the rear end of any bird that could produce a dropping that size. While investigating, I saw the lump move: it was a female Birddropping spider Celaenia excavata (formerly C. kinbergi) (Fig. 1).