tunnel web spider engineering a silk-lined burrow
- Size
- Body: 2–3 cm
- Lifespan
- 2–5 years
- Diet
- Predatory: feeds on insects and other small invertebrates that walk near burrow entrance. Builds silk-lined burrow in soil, under logs or in rock crevices, with tunnel extending deep into ground.
- Habitat
- Native forests, banks and rock crevices. The engineers of the soil, digging deep, silk-lined tunnels in the earth or under logs.
- Range
- Throughout North and South Islands in native forests, scrublands and gardens. Most common in lowland areas with deep, well-drained soils for burrow construction and abundant insect prey.
- Endemism
- Endemic
- Main Threats
- Habitat loss from forest clearance and urban development. Predation from rats, mice and introduced wasps which compete for food and prey on spiderlings. Soil compaction which damages burrows.
- Population
- New Zealand's largest spider by body mass. While they look intimidating, they are not related to deadly Australian funnel-web spiders. Shy, reclusive and vital for controlling ground-dwelling pests. Populations stable in undisturbed forest.
- Conservation Status
- Not Threatened
The dark lord of the New Zealand forest floor. A spider that is scarier in stories than in reality.
Jet black and robust, with thick, hairy legs and formidable fangs, the tunnel web spider looks like a creature from a nightmare. However, unlike its infamous Australian cousins, the New Zealand tunnel web is not aggressive and its venom is not considered dangerous to humans. It is a shy, retiring soul that spends its life hidden away in a masterpiece of engineering: a deep, vertical tunnel lined with thick, white silk. A spider that built a fortress.
The entrance to this tunnel is often marked by trip-lines, strands of silk radiating out into the leaf litter. When an insect, worm or small skink brushes against these lines, the vibration shoots down the shaft, and the spider explodes from the darkness, grabs the prey, and drags it back into the depths. It is an ambush predator of the highest order, relying on patience and sensitivity rather than speed.
These spiders are long-lived, with females known to stay in the same burrow for years, deepening and repairing it as they grow. They are slow to mature and produce relatively few offspring, making them vulnerable to habitat destruction. Digging up a log or clearing a bank can destroy a home that took decades to build.
Despite their fearsome appearance, they are gentle if left alone, preferring to retreat deeper into their burrows than to confront a threat.
The forest floor is dark. The tunnel opens under a log. The spider waits at the entrance, black and hairy, trip-lines radiating. A beetle trips the line. The spider explodes out, grabs it, drags it in. The beetle does not see it coming. The spider does not know it is a dark lord. It does not know it is gentle.
It just wants dinner. The pūngāwerewere-ana was treated with caution and respect. Its dark, hidden nature linked to the underworld. The spider does not know that either.