than 20% of males ever find a potential mate during their lifetimes, and in any case, the male is functionally sterile if he has used the contents of both of his palps in the first mating. Some redback males have been observed using an alternative tactic that also ensures more of their genetic material is passed on. Juvenile female redbacks nearing their final moulting and adulthood have fully formed reproductive organs, but lack openings in the exoskeleton that allow access to the organs. Males will bite through the exoskeleton and deliver sperm without performing the somersault seen in males mating with adult females. The females then moult within a few days and deliver a clutch of fertilised eggs. Once the female has mated, the sperm is stored in one or both of her spermathecae. The sperm can be used to fertilise several batches of eggs, over a period of up to two years (estimated from observations of closely related species), but typically restarts the female's pheromone production advertising her sexual availability about three months after mating. A female spider may lay four to ten egg sacs, each of which is around in diameter and contains on average around 250 eggs, though can be as few as 40 or as many as 500. She prepares a shallow concave disc around in diameter before laying eggs into it over a period of around five minutes before laying more silk to complete the sac, which becomes spherical, the whole process taking around one and a quarter hours. She can produce a new egg sac as early as one to three weeks after her last. Distribution and habitat The redback spider is widespread across Australia. The current distribution reported by the World Spider Catalogue includes Southeast Asia and New Zealand. Colonies and individuals have been found elsewhere, including Japan, England, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. It was believed at one time that the redback may have been introduced to Australia, because when it was first formally described in 1870, it appeared to be concentrated around sea ports. However, an earlier informal description (1850) from the Adelaide Hills is now known, and names in Australian Aboriginal languages also show that it was present well before European settlement. Its original range is thought to be a relatively small arid part of South Australia and Western Australia. Its spread has been inadvertently aided by modern