Daytime wanderers
Male Eastern Mouse Spider (Missulena bradleyi).
Male Northern Mouse Spider (Missulena pruinosa).
Male Red-headed Mouse Spider (Missulena occatoria).
Most male mygalomorph spiders wander by night in search of females during their mating season. This is to avoid both day-active predators and excessive heat and water loss. However, the males of several mouse spider species can be seen wandering about by day during the late summer to early winter months (especially after rain), the mouse spider mating season. These daytime wanderers are unique in having distinctive body colour patterns. Eastern Mouse Spider males (Missulena bradleyi) from eastern Australia have a blue/white patch on the front of the abdomen. In M. pruinosa from northern Australia, this patch is yellowish-cream and spreads over much of the abdomen. These spiders live in open forest habitats where their pale blue and yellow/cream patches may help them blend in with the dappled shading of the forest floor, perhaps making them difficult for predators to see.
Most arresting are the males of the Red-headed Mouse Spider (M. occatoria) which ranges across semi-arid Australia. These males have a bright reddish-orange head and jaw region and the abdomen has a gunmetal blue tinge. In open woodland and shrubland habitats this pattern may act as both warning and disruptive colouration, deterring some predators and avoiding others by blending in with the sharply shadowed soil and litter background.
By contrast, little is known about the wandering behaviour of some small, forest dwelling mouse spider species that are entirely black in colour.
Locating a mate
While wandering, male mouse spiders hold their long pedipalps (carrying the mating organs) extended forwards, presumably seeking an airborne scent (pheromone) associated with the female or its burrow. Once the burrow vicinity is reached the male taps the ground and silk around the doors until the female emerges. If she is receptive the male follows her into the burrow where mating occurs.
