Expert believes the Avondale spider's star is fading

Saturday, 23 June 2018

The Avondale, or Australian huntsman spider, is on the decline

For nearly thirty years she was one of Auckland's much-loved Hollywood stars.

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Steven Spielberg and John Goodman was the norm back when she first shot to fame in the early 1990's.

But now some of her greatest admirers are concerned for her well-being as she is rarely seen out and about these days.

Grace Hall has been studying the Avondale spider for about 30 years.

No, it's not Lucy Lawless or Robyn Malcolm whose future is in jeopardy but our beloved Avondale spider.

**READ MORE:

Rebecca Head found this nursery web spider at her home in Glen Eden.

* Not just a spider - it's Avondale's history

* A guide to New Zealand's spiders: The good, the bad and the ancient

The Australian hunstman spider, more commonly known as the Avondale spider, was first found in the early 1920s.

* Arachnophobia: The movie that made Kiwi spiders famous is being remade**

The Avondale spider, also known as an Australian huntsman, is famous for its role in the movie Arachnophobia.

It was first found in New Zealand in the early 1920s and is believed to have been brought over from Australia in a shipment of Wattle trees.

However, Landcare Research entomologist arachnologist Grace Hall, who has been studying the spider for decades, said we might not be able to find the spider in New Zealand anymore in the next 30 years.

Hall said when she was asked to collect the Avondale spider for its role in 1990 horror-comedy Arachnophobia she found over 300 of them with no problem at all.

Corin Armstead found a banded tunnel web spider in the backyard of her Swanson home.

'Nowadays you go out and its hard to even find one. I mean if we look at how many there were 30 years ago to now it's just not going to happen.'

Hall said she thinks the spider is on the decline as a lot of Wattle trees in the area where they live are being cut down to make room for more houses.

'I guess there's just not enough space and habitat for them.

'I used to get called out to people's homes with people finding them there, but I don't think anyone is going to find one in their home these days.'

She said when she collected the spiders to become movie stars she was able to breed a lot of them and ended up releasing thousands of the spiders back into the area.

The spiders tend only to be found in the Avondale suburb of West Auckland, so those who live elsewhere don't need to worry about finding one of these near them, Hall said.

A lot of West Auckland residents posted in community pages with pictures of the freaky spiders they found, but the Avondale spider doesn't seem to be a popular find.

Avondale resident Cliff Cole said he had an Avondale spider as a pet as a child.

However, he said he had not seen the famous spider for years, except for the occasional baby Avondale spider.

The Avondale spider was a big part of the suburb, with a giant spider sculpture watching over the square.