Files and links (1)
CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The world’s most venomous spider is a species complex: systematics of the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atracidae: Atrax robustus)
BMC ecology and evolution, Vol.25(1), 7
2025
PMID: 39800689
Abstract
The Sydney funnel-web spider Atrax robustus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877 is an iconic Australian species and considered among the most dangerously venomous spiders for humans. Originally described in 1877 from a single specimen collected in “New Holland”, this spider has a complex taxonomic history. The most recent morphological revision of funnel-web spiders (Atracidae) lists this species as both widespread and common in the Sydney Basin bioregion and beyond, roughly 250 km from the Newcastle area south to the Illawarra, and extending inland across the Blue Mountains. Morphological variability and venom diversity in this species appear to be unusually high, raising questions about species concepts and diversity in these spiders. In this study, we use a combination of molecular phylogenetics, divergence time analyses and morphology to establish the Sydney funnel-web spider as a complex of three species. The “real” Sydney funnel-web spider Atrax robustus is relatively widespread in the Sydney metropolitan region. A second species, Atrax montanus (Rainbow, 1914), which is revalidated here, overlaps but mainly occurs further south and west, and a third larger species, Atrax christenseni sp. nov., is found in a small area surrounding Newcastle to the north. The revised taxonomy for funnel-web spiders may have practical implications for antivenom production and biochemical studies on spider venoms. Although no human fatalities have occurred since the development of antivenom in the 1980s, antivenom for Sydney funnel-web spiders might be optimized by considering biological differentiation at the species level.
Details
- Title
- The world’s most venomous spider is a species complex: systematics of the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atracidae: Atrax robustus)
- Authors/Creators
- Stephanie F. Loria - Museum für NaturkundeSvea-Celina Frank - Hamburg, Germany Hamburg, GermanyNadine Dupérré - Hamburg, GermanyHelen M. Smith - Australian MuseumBraxton Jones - The University of SydneyBruno A. Buzatto - The University of Western AustraliaDanilo Harms - Museum für Naturkunde
- Publication Details
- BMC ecology and evolution, Vol.25(1), 7
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. Part of Springer Nature.
- Number of pages
- 27
- Grant note
- Projekt DEALNational Geographic Society: NGS-62237R-19 Australian Geographic SocietyDH the Australian Museum for a Research Institute Visiting Research FellowshipGerman Science Foundation: HA 8785/5, KO 3944/10
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. DH and BAB are indebted to National Geographic Society who generously provided an Exploration Grant (NGS-62237R-19) that enabled this research. BAB also thanks the Australian Geographic Society for sponsoring some of the field work, and DH the Australian Museum for a Research Institute Visiting Research Fellowship that allowed for collections and field work. SFL was supported by the German Science Foundation (Award# HA 8785/5 and KO 3944/10) to DH.
- Identifiers
- 991005732475707891
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2025.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Harry Butler Institute
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Metrics
3 File views/ downloads
20 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.32 Entomology
- 3.32.1249 Araneae
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Genetics & Heredity
- ESI research areas
- Environment/Ecology