Whitetail Spider, or not???

Possible White-Tail?
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TN – Arachnaphobia Sufferer [email protected] to bugman
show details 8:41 pm (1 day ago)
Subject: Possible White-Tail?

Location: Launceston, Tasmania

August 24, 2011 10:41 pm

Bugpersons of gender unimportant:

Last evening, as I was attempting to climb into my bed, I was joined by a brazen harlot. She sat on top of the covers of my bed I commenced my spider ritual (running around, limbs flailing, screaming like a woman). In Truth, my normal reaction would have been to find the biggest heaviest thing I could pick up and heave it in the direction of the spider as they terrify me to no ends, but from reading your website whilst at work the last fortnight I’ve discovered that this practice is generally frowned upon under bug carnage. So After decided on a name for my harlot (Charlotte), I obtained a plastic container and piece of laminated paper and attempted to negotiate her the hell out of my bed.

In truth, what followed was fifteen minutes of me freaking out every time she moved to the edges of the container while I carefully slipped the plastic under her. I took some photos of her incarceration with my phone, hence the terrible quality. While I understand you chaps are generally more focused on North American bugs given your geographical location, I wonder if you might be able to confirm Charlotte’s identity?

I thought it strange to see any spiders this time of year given Tasmania is the coldest of the Australian states on average and we’re in the last month of Winter.

If Charlotte is indeed a Whitetail I wonder if you had anyone with sufficient knowledge of these spiders skulling around? She was about the size of an Australian 50c piece (Maybe 4-5 cm). The majority of her legs were splayed forward, and as you can see in the second photo she had a white marking on her tail, hence my guess at her origins.

From what I gather, Whitetails have been speculated to have Necrotising bites, which gives me even more reason to fear spiders. A bite that rots flesh? Lets leave the zombie movies to the professionals, thanks folks.

Any assistance you can offer would be most apprciated.

Signature: TN – Arachnaphobia Sufferer

Wow, this is a detailed letter from a location with mysterious species.  This will take considerable research and after a lovely social evening, our editorial staff would like something a little less challenging at the moment.