Arachnida › Araneae › Sicariidae
Brown recluse
6 to 20 millimetres
A brown recluse kept in captivity once lived over five seasons without any food at all.
Field Guide · Chapter 22 of 29
Spiders and crawlers
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Arachnida › Araneae › Atracidae
Sydney funnel-web spider
Up to 5 cm long
A small child has died within 15 minutes of a bite from one.
Arachnida › Araneae › Salticidae
Bold jumping spider
Up to 15 mm long
Males have more iridescence and more starkly marked jaws than females.
Arachnida › Araneae › Salticidae
Peacock spider
About 5 mm long
Observers have seen it jump up to 40 times higher than its own body length.
Arachnida › Araneae › Araneidae
Golden silk orb-weaver
Females up to 40 mm
Each male that moves to a new web risks death, mostly from predators.
Arachnida › Araneae › Araneidae
Wasp spider
14 to 20 mm, female
Males are small enough to slip into a female's web unnoticed to mate.
Chilopoda › Scolopendromorpha › Scolopendridae
Amazonian giant centipede
Over 30 centimetres
It can overpower even a tarantula.
Malacostraca › Isopoda › Armadillidiidae
Common pill-bug
Up to 18 mm long
Its name comes from the way it rolls into a ball when disturbed.
Gastropoda › Stylommatophora › Helicidae
Garden snail
25 to 40 mm across
Garden snails mate by stabbing their partner with a calcite spine called a love dart.
Gastropoda › Stylommatophora › Achatinidae
Giant African land snail
20 cm or more long
It can seal itself into its shell and survive for several months.
Clitellata › Arhynchobdellida › Hirudinidae
European medicinal leech
Up to 20 centimeters
Large adults can eat up to ten times their own body weight in one meal.
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