Leaf-curling spiders

Phonognatha spp.

Phonognatha graeffei: orb web & leaf retreat, left; female on curled leaf, right. Photo: M Gray © Australian Museum.

The leaf-curling spiders (genus Phonognatha) are day-active orb weavers that protect themselves from predators by sitting inside a silk seamed, curled leaf. In P. graeffei this leaf is suspended just above the centre of the web, but may be placed higher in other species. Juvenile spiders start off by bending over a small green leaf, but eventually graduate to larger dead leaves that are hoisted up from the ground on silk lines (other objects, such as snail shells, are occasionally used). Such leaves are already part curled and the spider pulls and silks its leaf into a retreat cylinder, silked shut at the top and open at the hub. Male spiders often take up residence nearby, or in the same web as the (often immature) female, mating as soon as she has her final moult. The female also lays its eggs sac within a dead leaf, bent over and silked back on itself. This is suspended among foliage well away from the orb web.

Links

• Other Spider Fact sheets
  http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/index.htm#spiders