Spitting Spider: Scytodes thoracica

Location: Bunbury, Western Australia

Season: Summer, February

Class: Arachnida 

Order: Araneae 

Family: Scytodidae 

Genus: Scytodes

Scytodes thoracica

This Spitting Spider was found inside the house on the ceiling. The spider has a freckled pattern resembling leopard spots. It has 3 pairs of eyes instead of 4 as seen in other spiders. The abdomen and cephalothorax slope towards the opposite sides making it hard to tell the front and back of the spider. This may be to confuse its predators. The legs are very long and the spider moves slowly, if at all it moves during the day. It hunts during the night. Hunting technique is unique to these spiders. They spit venom on the prey, entangling it in a sticky crisscrossed web. 

Spiders from the same family, known as Recluse Spiders are venomous. The species Loxosceles cause Loxoscelism resulting in skin necrosis in humans, only known necrotic arachnidism. However genus Scytodes does not cause any human envenomation.

Reference: Wikipedia Wikipedia Arachne