An Endemic Nocturnal Predator Of The Forest — Written by Te Korowai o Waiheke Team Member

Not much in the bush will give me a fright, I love all…most…of the creatures I come across on my missions through our ngahere. Spiders don’t sit well with a lot of people, the majority I’d say, and although it took a while, I am now lucky to be quite comfortable with our eight-legged acquaintances.

Vagrant Spider, Captured by Charlie

This was tested when I shifted one of our traps and was very quickly confronted by a large, grumpy, brown spider with her eyes fixed directly on me. She was not pleased that I’d disturbed her home, which is fair enough I reckon. A quick iNat search found that she was a vagrant spider. Her dark abdomen was speckled with light spots and stripes, a camouflage so successful I struggled to find her again on the forest floor after looking away for only a second.

Vagrant spiders are nocturnal predators, hunting for their prey of invertebrates on the ground rather than in trees with webs like most other spiders. They are endemic to Aotearoa and I have since found them fairly regularly across the island, even inside my bathroom. As with most spiders, it is very unlikely they ‘want’ to be stuck hiding in the corner of your shower, or smacked with a rolled up newspaper. Escorting them kindly, inside a cup and a piece of paper is always the best thing to do. They are, after all, another one of our precious native species.

I shifted the trap again and realised why my little friend is so disgruntled, she is guarding a large, round egg sac wrapped tightly with silk. Any time I poke a stick in its direction she launches at me, so fiercely protective of her babies she doesn’t mind taking on a giant. I gently move the box back to where it was, covering the egg sac once more. She slinks back to her hideout as I stand to brush the dirt from my knees, I wonder how many more vagrant spiders are watching me from the cover of rotting logs… Probably none, it’s daytime.

— Written & captured by Te Korowai o Waiheke Team Member, Charlie Thomas.