The female has a dark reddish-brown head and thorax.
The female has darker rings on the legs and an abdomen mottled dark greyish brown and beige.
Austrarchaea daviesae has two pairs of small horn-like projections on its tall head, present in both described sexes. The carapace rises above a narrow neck-like region and is about twice as high as it is long in the described specimens.
A newly collected adult male from the Atherton Tableland was important to the 2012 revision. No adult male had been collected in that region since the original specimen in 1978. A male and female were obtained in Malaan National Park on 18 March 2012.
The researchers examined the new male’s reproductive appendage near the mouth and compared it with the figures published in 1984. Its form closely matched those earlier illustrations. Combining the preserved specimens and old drawings with the newly collected adult helped clarify the identity of this species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 2012 authors did not consider this species a conservation concern at that time, citing its occurrence in several national parks protected under World Heritage legislation. Regional management in the Misty Mountains also addresses the spread of plant dieback pathogens. The parks authority asks visitors to wash mud from footwear, equipment and vehicles before and after visits. Maintaining forest vegetation and litter habitats, alongside continued checks of the spider’s occurrence, could inform conservation.