This book introduces the Australian spider fauna and includes many species that are well known to Australian biologists, naturalists, gardeners and pest controllers. This book provides for the first time information on a vast spectrum of the Australian spider fauna and illustrates and describes over 150 species in some detail. Many other species are mentioned and discussed and a thorough summary of spider morphology, biology and classification is also provided. All representative families are described in some detail and the numbers of each family are listed on Australian and World levels. Most of the major genera of each family are described and representative species illustrated and described.

Most of the spiders illustrated are photographed alive in their natural settings while approximately 30 species are represented by paintings of living specimens. The illustrations and descriptions make it easy for the layperson to identify many common spiders and provides also for the first time, an up to date reference list of hundreds of old and more recent scientific papers, books and other articles on Australian and related spider species. This list is organized into families and will prove to be an indispensable tool for serious workers on Arachnida. Much of the information provided for many of the species is new, based on the author's own field observations. The book is aimed for the scientist, naturalist, student and layperson both in Australia and overseas.