📸 PhotoPhoto: Wocky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Redback spider
Latrodectus hasselti (Redback spider · セアカゴケグモ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 The female average length of 10 mm is about the size of a pea and just over half the diameter of a Korean 10-won coin (18 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 In Australia it lives inside sheds and houses in cities and suburbs, and its appearance in Japan shows that it can withstand cold temperatures down to -3 °C (Animal Diversity Web).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The redback spider is a venomous spider living in Australia, with a black body and a red stripe.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Females have a black body with a red stripe on the upper side of the abdomen and an hourglass-shaped red mark on the underside. Females average 10 mm, about the size of a pea, and are much larger than males (averaging 3–4 mm).
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It traps and eats small insects like ants in its web and sometimes catches mice, small birds, and snakes. It is shy and nocturnal, and females sometimes eat males during mating.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 6P4KD
- • wikidata.org — Q82544
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Latrodectus hasselti male.png
- • animaldiversity.org — Latrodectus hasselti
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Melissa Broussard · CC BY 3.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Latrodectus katipo)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.