This tiny spider was seen on the trunk of a Red Bloodwood, Corymbia gummifera, on the fire trail near Bush Camp at Manna Park, at map coordinates 58 511, 18 947. At a glance it looks like an ant, with a body about 1cm long, however the eight legs, pincers and compound eyes show ti is a spider. They feed on a variety of insects.

The Red and Black Spider, Ambicodamus southwelli, is in the Nicodamidaespider family, which has 29 species in nine genera. They are small to medium sized spiders found in small sheet webs close to the ground in eucalypt forests. The black legs and parts of Ambicodamus southwellidistinguish it, as most other Nicodamidae have uniformly red body and legs, with a black abdomen.

Click on any of the photographs to download a higher resolution image (T. Hastings, September 2009).