Weird-looking spider stuns woman

By CHERIE TAYLOR IN Rotorua
A small, strange-looking creepy crawly has Raewyn Waerea wandering if there is a new species of spider crawling around Rotorua suburbs.

While getting the washing off the clothesline recently, the Owhata woman found a deep yellow and black coloured spider, with horns on its back, hanging on a white shirt.

"I've never seen a spider like this. I'm really intrigue by its colour. I was concerned it was poisonous," she said.

Recently bitten by a spider and left with a nasty rash and breathing difficulties, Mrs Waerea said she was wary of spiders and wasn't taking any chances with the one she discovered.

"I was sick for about three weeks. I was shaking from head to toe. I went to the hospital but didn't know what the spider looked like that had bitten me," she said.

The arachnid was captured in a jar and photographed by work colleagues for identification.

"People are really blown away by it. I was just a bit worried it may be some exotic spider," she said. "I think its colour is some form of camouflage. It's very pretty. We looked on the internet but couldn't find anything close to it."

Sending photographs of the spider, named Raelien by Mrs Waerea, to Rotorua's Scion, it has been identified as a poecilopachys australasiae and is not poisonous.

Entomologist Diane Jones said the spider was an Australian native which had been established in New Zealand since the 1970s.

It is a two-spined spider, hence the two horns on its back.

"There is little known about the two horns on its back but it is believed they are there to deter predators," she said.

The spider could be found spinning its web in trees, shrubs and gardens and was common to New Zealand gardens, said Ms Jones.

"People find them all over the place. They prey on insects in the garden," she said.

The jewel-like spider can often be found in citrus trees and builds an orb web at night.