Due to physical and chemical properties as well as biocompatibility, spider silk has a great potential for use in medicine and biotechnology. It is applicable in the regeneration of the skin and nerve grafts. In this work, antibacterial property of spider silk was investigated. This feature would be especially useful for the application of spider threads in medicine. Silk of the spiders Linothele fallax (Mello-Leitão, 1926) and Linothele megatheloides Paz & Raven, 1990 was tested on Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis. Prior to inoculation, thesilk was weighed, sterilized with hydrogen peroxide and the effect of the silk on bacteria was tested in Mueller-Hinton broth. A lack of antibacterial properties of the silk of L. fallax and L. megatheloides was observed. The results on antimicrobial properties of silk of mygalomorph spiders are published for the first time.

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Xysticus inornatus L. Koch, 1876 was originally described from a single female specimen from Sydney, Australia. After studying new material from the Australian Capital Territory, Dondale later transferred this species to Diaea and described the previously unknown male. Examination of the specimens studied by Dondale reveal that they belong to a different, and probably undescribed, species of Diaea. Detailed studies of the holotype of Xysticus inornatus and the type material of Diaea megagyna Evans, 1995 reveal that they are synonyms.

F r a g m e n t a F a u n i s t i c a 4 7 (2 ): In t r o d u c t i o n

Species richness of described crab spiders (Family Thomisidae) in Australia is low. Altogether 123 species of the family are known from this continent. One of the most abundantly represented genera of crab spiders in Australia is Diaea (31 recognized species). This paper revises knowledge of one species of this genus, Diaea pulleinei Rainbow, 1915, supplementing its description with the hitherto unknown female.