How Leaf-rolling Spiders Pair Up and Build a Family Home

Have you recently noticed a spider peeking out from a brown, rolled-up leaf in your garden?

Chances are you share your garden with Leaf Rolling Spider, Phonognatha graeffei (pronounced fon-og-natha greef-ei), a fascinating member of the Araneidae (pronounced aran-ee-i-dee) spider family.

This spider, which can be found in all Australian states and territories, builds its orb-like web in plants and places a special, specially prepared hiding place in it: a rolled-up leaf.

Like other spiders in the orb weaver family, the leaf weaver spider lives only one year and are most often observed in delayed summer.

They can be found both in forests and in urban gardens and green areas, and their particularly compelling family arrangements are characteristic of this species.

Why and how do leaves curl?

To create a leafy shelter, these spiders exploit silk to lift a leaf from the ground and place it in their web.

Using their legs, they carefully roll it up and secure it with silk into a funnel or cone shape. They weave this rolled leaf into the web, using more silk.

If they can’t find a suitable leaf, they can exploit other items such as snail shells and pieces of paper.

Youthful spiders, which are not as robust as adults, begin to curl up small, fresh green leaves for a time they retreat and as they become older they turn into larger, desiccated leaves.

The rolled leaves – or pieces of paper – protect the spider from hungry predators, such as birds. They also protect the spider from parasitic waspswhich lay eggs on or inside the bodies of other insects and spiders, ultimately killing their hosts.

The spider can sit safely in its shelter, with its front legs stretched out and in contact with the web. This way, the spider can sense any vibrations caused by an insect trapped in its web – and jump out to catch food.

Like most other orb-weaver spiders, leaf-twisters are not picky and will eat any insect that gets tangled in their webs, such as flies, bees, moths, and butterflies. They can even handle prey much larger than themselves.

Spiders spend most of their time in their lair, coming out only during the day to forage for food, or to repair and rebuild their webs (usually at night).

Venomous? Yes. Perilous? No.

Almost all spiders you come across are venomous – in other words, they have venom.

However, being venomous does not mean that it is unsafe to humans. Like most spiders, these spiders are not unsafe to us.

The leaf-roller spider has compact fangs that point inwards, a bit like pincers. Bites are infrequent. If you grab it, the spider may try to bite, which can cause local pain and swelling at the site of the bite – but symptoms are generally mild.

If you notice them, just “leave” them alone and they will do the same to you.

And remember: having leaf-rolling spiders in your yard is a source of pride! These fascinating little creatures are great for pest control and are friends of gardeners.

Are there eggs or compact spiders in the rolled leaves?

These spiders have compelling family arrangements.

Unusually for spiders, male and female leaf-rolling spiders form pairs AND share a retreat leaf.

This the male moves in with the female when she is juvenile and when she is mature, he will mate with her. According to one test

Females may eat cohabiting males, and this occurs regardless of whether the female has been deprived of food.

After copulation, the female re-creates the rolled leaves in the vegetation. away from her networkThis is the “nursery” where she will lay her eggs.

A fascinating and stunning world

I understand that spiders are not at the top of most people’s list of favorite animals.

However, if you spend some time observing their lives, getting to know them and their stories, a fascinating and often stunning world can open up to you.

Spiders and other invertebrates such as beetles, flies, snails and centipedes are incredibly significant to the functioning of our natural world, and therefore to us.

And when you get to know them better, you’ll find that they’re really frigid.