Acroaspis olorina

Fact Box Species: Acroaspis olorina (previously named Heurodes turritus: see below) Family: Araneidae formerly Argiopidae Body length: female: up to 5 mm male: about 4 mm Habitat: On dry twigs in forest settings where its excellent camouflage colours and stick-like abdomen allow it to rest unnoticed by predators and potential prey Toxicity: Uncertain; may be too small to cause serious illness in humans

Other views Male, two views The male Underneath male

Note: The species shown on this page is identical to a specimen identified as Heurodes turrita (now renamed Heurodes turritus) by Valerie Todd Davies (Queensland Museum) and is a very good match for the drawings of this species she published in 1988. However, Platnick's World Spider Catalog presently shows H. turritus as being found only in Tasmania whereas the specimen shown on this page came from a Queensland location, but Dr. Volker Framenau has included on Flickr a Western Australian araneid which he has labelled Acroaspis olorina and which is also very similar in appearance to the spider featured on this page. Volker also claims that Heurodes is a junior synonym of Acroaspis so this may explain the apparent conflict in these identifications.

Spider(s) with a very similar appearance: Poltys laciniosus and Poltys illepidus.