Arachnids, myriapods, chilopods, pycnogonids & onychophorans collections

Cosmophasis micans Short-legged Velvet Mite

Queensland has a highly diverse arachnid (especially spider) fauna. Until recently collections focussed on rainforests, but more recently attention has turned to dry habitats and coastal forests which have yielded many new discoveries. The arachnid collection contains a diverse range of terrestrial and some marine species, consisting of:

  • over 200,000 specimens;
  • about 1000 holotypes;
  • focus on northern Australia but include collections from all states as well as New Caledonia, islands of the Western Pacific, including New Guinea and south-east Asia; emphasis on ground-hunting araneomorph including goblin spiders, ant spiders and ground spiders, mygalomorph trapdoor, funnelweb and tarantula spiders and spiders of diverse amaurobioid families;
  • large collections of mites and ticks from Australian mammals, reptiles and birds;
  • large collections of Opiliones, Myriapoda and Chilopoda;
  • smaller collections of pseudoscorpions, scorpions and Pycnogonida (sea spiders) from Australia and adjacent regions;
  • small but representative collection of Onychophora from eastern Queensland, including some types.
  • about 35% of the collection is databased.