Australia has a number of highly venomous spiders, including the Sydney funnel-web spider, its relatives in the family Hexathelidae, and the redback spider, whose bites can be extremely painful and have historically been linked with deaths in medical records.[1] Most Australian spiders do not have venom that is considered to be dangerously toxic.[2][3][4] No deaths caused by spider bites in Australia have been substantiated by a coronial inquest since 1979. There are sensationalised news reports regarding Australian spiders that fail to cite evidence.[5] A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia published by CSIRO Publishing in 2017[3] featuring around 836 species illustrated with photographs of live animals, around 381 genera and 78 families, introduced significant updates to taxonomy from Ramirez, Wheeler and Dmitrov.[6][7][8][9]
Estimates put the total number of Australian spider species at about 10,000.[10] Only around 3,600 have been described.[11] Little information is known about many undiscovered species.[10] New species are found each year.
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