25 September 2023 , 11:33
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A man who found a bizarrely deep hole, about the size of a coin, in his garden was immediately concerned about what it could mean. The hole was located in a dirt patch in the garden, but it was impossible to see what was inside.
After sharing a picture of the hole, which he suspected could be made by a spider, people confirmed his worst nightmare. The man, who lives in Australia, asked: "I'm in Adelaide Hills - can someone tell me what lives in here?"
Most people agreed that the hole looked like the home of either a trapdoor spider, which constructs burrows in the ground with cork-like trapdoors made of soil, or a wolf spider, who are agile hunters that live on the ground in leaf litter or burrows.
Trapdoor spiders build burrows in gardens (Getty Images)Both the homeowner and other commenters were unsure about about it being a spider hole given the lack of door, but the Australian Museum says this is common for both species.
Taking to Reddit, one person said: "That is probably a burrow of a trapdoor spider. Most of them don't really build doors." Another person said: "There's thousands of these holes in the park across my house. I get a kick when I see people sunbathing or sitting on the grass, blissfully unaware of the horror sitting below them."
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A third commented: "We have them all through our lawn too, location Aldgate. I don’t disturb them, as we have never seen the inhabitants and frankly, I'd prefer not to know as I'm afraid of spiders!"
However, others were convinced it was a wolf spider, with one person commenting: "Absolutely a lycosidae spider burrow (wolf spider). Unfortunately in a lot of places trap doors are on the decline, the vast majority of burrows you find (everywhere from in your lawn to in native bush land) will be wolf spider burrows."
Not all trapdoor spiders actually build trapdoors (Getty Images)A second said: "Only females put doors on, and it could be a wolf spider." Another woman shared: "I will never forget the time I tried to catch and release a large wolf spider under a container, only to find it was covered in 100s of baby wolf spiders - who were small enough to escape in all direction."
Trapdoor spiders live underground in borrows made by leaves or sticks to keep them hidden from predators. Their venom isn't considered dangerous to humans, but will cause mild pain and swelling. Trapdoor spiders inhabit tropical regions of the world, for example the US and Australia.
Wolf spiders also live on the ground in leaf litter or burrows, and mostly feed off insects. Symptoms from a bite would usually be minor, for example localised pain or itchiness. Wolf spiders can live almost anywhere in the world, but are commonly found in Australia.