Identification
The Adelaide Trapdoor Spider (*Teyloides bakeri*) is a master of understated power. A large, mygalomorph spider, it boasts a robust, velvety abdomen and a strikingly glossy, dark chocolate-brown to charcoal cephalothorax. While they can reach a leg span of several centimeters, it is their "heavy-set" appearance that gives them away. To distinguish them from similar Wishbone spiders, look for the specific eye arrangement: eight eyes clustered tightly on a small, raised mound. Unlike many cousins, *T. bakeri* lacks the heavy "spurs" on the male’s legs, appearing more streamlined despite their bulk.
Habitat & Range
This species is a true South Australian local, found almost exclusively in the mist-shrouded gullies of the Mount Lofty Ranges and the Fleurieu Peninsula. They are specialists of wet sclerophyll forests and stringybark woodlands. You’ll find them on sloping embankments where the soil is friable and the leaf litter is thick, providing the perfect insulation for their subterranean retreats.
Behaviour
Patience is the hallmark of *T. bakeri*. Females are legendary homebodies, often spending over 20 years within a single vertical burrow. They are strictly nocturnal; if you’re out with a headlamp on a humid night, you might see the sensitive tips of their front legs resting just at the burrow’s rim. While females are sedentary, the mature males become "wanderers" during the first soaking rains of autumn, braving the forest floor in a frantic search for a mate.
Diet
These are classic "lunge-and-drag" ambush predators. They don’t spin webs to catch food; instead, they use the silk lining of their burrow as a vibration sensor. When a beetle, cricket, or millipede wanders too close, the spider erupts from the shadows with lightning speed, dragging the prey into the depths to be consumed in safety.
Fascinating Fact
Despite its common name, *Teyloides bakeri* is a bit of an architectural rebel—it almost never builds an actual "trapdoor." Instead, its burrow is usually a simple, open-holed tube with a subtle silk collar, making it a "doorless" trapdoor spider!