NIKOLAJ SCHARFF Project description
Pedro Cardoso Jose Guadanucci Ole Gudik-Sørensen Søren Langemark Nikolaj Scharff Jesper B. Schmidt                             BACK Back to Scharff		The systematics of Australian orb-web spiders of the subfamily Araneinae (Araneae, Araneidae)   (this project is done in collaboration with Volker Framenau  from the Western Australian Museum, Perth, Australia)   Orb-weaving spiders of the subfamily Araneinae are found in virtually every terrestrial habitat world-wide. Many make conspicuous webs and are commonly encountered during biological surveys. The taxonomy of the group is problematic and most of the 145 species currently recorded for Australia are difficult or impossible to identify. The large genus Araneus, which currently includes two thirds of all Australian Araneinae, is unlikely to occur in Australia. We will revise the conspicuous Australian spider fauna of the subfamily Araneinae and provide keys to selected taxa, which will allow for rapid identification of genera and individual species.