(Picture of female Telamonia dimidiata supplied by Gerald Cairnes)
"There was a Redback on the
toilet seat when I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark but, boy, I felt his bite..."
Not only have we been menaced by the Red-back on the Toilet Seat, but a
recent revival of an old hoax has people anxiously checking for an inoffensive
denizen of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia before they use the facilities.
Someone has decided the "name" of the spider in the original version of the
hoax was too much of a give-away (the Blush Spider, Arachnius Gluteus literally
"Spider Bum-muscle"!) and has fingered a Jumping Spider, Telamonia dimidiata,
as the new culprit.
Check out the following sites for further information: (thanks, Peter
Macinnis, for most of these links.)
