New Zealand Poisonous Spiders

New Zealand Poisonous Spiders

New Zealand is situated in the pacific ocean in the southern hemisphere, it’s a very small country with about 4 ½ million people. New Zealand has 3 different types of poisonous spiders. The Katipo, Red Back, and White-Tail. The White-Tail and Red Back were both originally from Australia while the Katipo (Night-Stinger) is native to New Zealand.

To cut these down into finer detail here’s some more information on the Katipo, Red Back & White-Tail.

Katipo

The Katipo Spider (Night-Stinger) is a poisonous spider that is native to New Zealand, it’s scientific name is the Latrodectus Katipo.

The female Katipo have black rounded bodies, slender legs and a white bordered red stripe on their back with a red hourglass mark underneath, While the adult Males and Juveniles are black and white but are smaller than the female Katipo.

The Katipo lives in beach grasses and other vegetation, small stones, driftwood and debris like empty cans, bottles etc.

Red Back

The Red Back is a poisonous spider that was originally from Australia but transferred here to New Zealand, it’s scientific name is the Latrodectus Hasseti.

The female Red Back spider has a black rounded body, slender legs with a white-bordered orange to red jagged stripe on their back and a red hourglass mark underneath, While adult males are more slender with a cream colored abdomen with brown stripes and Juveniles have white markings on the abdomen.

The Red Back spider can be found on the underside of ledges, stone overhangs and other vegetation. They are more likely than the Katipo to make their thimble-shaped webs near houses to take advantage of the warm environment.

White-Tail

The White-Tail is a poisonous spider and  just like the Red Back it was originally from Australia.

There are 2 different types of White-Tails the lampona murina & the lampona cylindrata.

The White-Tail is a distinct creature with a dark body and a white patch at the end of their cylindrical/cigar shaped abdomen. The males and Juveniles have white patches as well as white tails.

The White-Tail can be found in vegetation in gardens and bush, and around houses, which they like for the warmth. And unlike other spiders the White-Tail does not build webs.