[1] A study has indicated that M. rainbowi is likely to have reached Australia from Africa between 2 and 16 million years ago.

Given that this time is intermediate between the separation of Australia from Gwondwana (circa 95 million years ago) and the arrival of humans into Australia, it has been proposed that the spiders may have arrived by oceanic dispersal, such as by rafting vegetation.

[1] The spiders live in short burrows, approximately 6cm deep.

Young spiders live with their mothers before building their own burrows nearby.

[5] All known Western River populations were destroyed during the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, one of which burned a third of Kangaroo Island.