G'day Murray,

Unfortunately the name "Tarantula" is used - widely, loosely and frequently inaccurately. I understand that the Funnelwebs (Atrax robustus and Atrax formidabilis) are closely related to American vemonous spiders known in their locality as "Tarantulas"> I don't have a good reference on spiders handy so this is off the top of my head.

The Italian Tarantula (Lycosa tarantula is obviously (from the Greek name) a wolf spider, however it is relatively harmless and the recipient of a bad rap. The actual spider that caused the agitation and 'dancing' symptoms amongst harvest workers in Taranto was not the Tarantula but a small black spider of the species Latrodectus - a 1st cousin of what we in Australia call a "Redback Spider" (Latrodectus hasseltii. Since we probably got our Redbacks from South America in a load of imported lumber, around 1886, when they first appear in Australia, this makes Latrodectus a very well travelled species.

BTW: Murray, I have just glanced at my old copy of the Australian Encyclopædia and it says, under "MYGALOMORPHAE" (the family that includes the genus Atrax): "The mygalomorph spiders of the family Dipluridae are termed "funnel-web tarantulas in the United States of America". As I understand it, this group is found throughout the Americas and generally known as "tarantulas"

Regards,

Bob Bolton