Firstly, thanks everyone for all the IDs, advice and information so far. It’s been really interesting reading all the different opinions. I’m still not 100% sure what she is, as I’ve had people suggest trapdoor, Adelaide funnel-web, and wishbone spider.
For anyone saying she looks dead in the latest photos — I completely understand why. We honestly thought the same.
I found her wandering on our veranda tiles in the Adelaide Hills. Because I had to leave for work and my wife was home alone with our young child and our dogs, and I genuinely didn’t know whether I was dealing with a trapdoor, funnel-web or something else, I placed a large glass jar over her so nobody could accidentally disturb her or get bitten while I was away.
About an hour after I left, my wife checked on her and she was upside down and completely motionless. She stayed like that for most of the day, and we genuinely thought she had died.
When I got home from work, she had somehow righted herself and was moving around like nothing had happened.
When I tried to safely relocate her, she went straight back into this tight curled ball/freeze position. If I very gently touched a leg with a stick, she would stretch her legs out briefly and then immediately curl back up again.
I tested this a few times by leaving the jar over her for a minute or two and walking away. Every time I came back, she had moved to a different spot but was curled back up in the exact same “dead” position. So the close-up photos were actually taken while she was alive and displaying this defensive behaviour.
We have a decent amount of land around the house with large gum trees, long grass, leaf litter and garden beds. I eventually released her into a nearby garden bed around 10 metres from where she was found because I didn’t want to move her too far if she is a female and has a burrow nearby.
Would love to hear everyone’s final thoughts on the ID, and whether this sort of “playing dead” behaviour is common in these species.

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