Two-spined Spider

This is Poecilopachys australasia, a small orb-weaver aptly named the Two-spined spider. This species builds a small orb-web at night and dismantles it at dawn each day, presumably to avoid diurnal predators. She has the remnants of last night's web still in her chelicerae.

This is a young female, her colours will become more vivid as she matures and her abdomen will be less hirsute. She is currently in our backyard only metres away from me now as I type - hopefully she survives to adulthood and if so, I will post another blog about her then.