Redback Spider

The redback spider, Latrodectus hasselti, also known as the Australian black widow, is a highly venomous spider believed to originate in Australia and now also found in Southeast Asia, Japan and New Zealand, as well as in isolated colonies elsewhere reached through packing crates. The adult female is easily recognised by her spherical black body with a prominent red stripe on the upper side of the abdomen and an hourglass-shaped red or orange streak beneath, measuring about ten millimetres, while males are much smaller at three to four millimetres. Mainly nocturnal, the female lives in an untidy web in a warm sheltered location, often near or inside human dwellings, and preys on insects, spiders and small vertebrates that become ensnared; its bite causes the syndrome of latrodectism in humans, and an antivenom has been available since 1956.