Ask Me About Spiders!

West Michigan near Grand Rapids.

Hi, Emily!

The photo was taken from too far away for me to really give you a good answer, I’m afraid. I understand not wanting to get closer to the spider, though. Two genera stick out, from this small image, though your spider could be neither of them:

Tibellus- the slender crab spider and Pisaurina- the nursery web spider.

Neither one is really, typically found indoors. But the way the spider in your photo is holding their legs and from what I can see of their abdomen, put me in mind of those two I listed above.

I can tell you that your spider is not dangerously venomous. Widow spiders are much smaller and the females stay in their webs (males are practically tiny and their venom isn’t harmful to humans) and the recluse spiders don’t hold their legs like that.

Thank you for the photo and sorry I couldn’t be of more help!

Found in Islamorada, FL

thanks

Hi, Jeremy!

I’m not sure what happened to your spider, but they look… dead. Or very dehydrated. I can’t see the face very clearly, but I can tell you have a wolf spider. If you had a photo of the underside of the spider or a head-on shot of the the face, I could possibly be of more help. Wolf spiders are one of many families that can be very tricky to identify, even when the IDer is familiar with spiders. There are many subtle differences and most spiders can only be identified to the species level by examining the genitals.

Just a shot in the dim, here, but you may have a Hogna carolinensis- the Carolina wolf spider. They’re considered to be the largest wolf spider in North America but they aren’t dangerously venomous.

If you can flip the spider over or get a closer, clearer shot of the face, please do so and send them to me. :)

Thanks for submitting and I hope the spider is okay or, if they’re dead, that they went of natural (i.e. not human-related) causes.

Here is the best picture I could get of garbage pail spider. Sorry about the blurriness. From what I can tell, there seems to be a light yellow stripe on each side.

I wanted so badly to be able to look and research and come back to you with a definitive answer. But I can’t. Tetragnatha are difficult even for the educated professionals to ID and this photo, as you said, isn’t very clear. The closest I can get is what you already knew when you sent me the photo- you have a female Tetragnatha, a long-jawed orbweaver.

The two that occur most frequently in your area- according to all the maps I could find- are T. elongata and T. staminea. But neither of those could be your girl. If you check out those links and the rest of bugguide.net, you might be able to find a better match. You can see her better than I can.

Thank you for asking, buddy!

Spider and friends live in my home in Boston, MA. They mostly love ceiling/wall corners. No cobwebs.

Hi, Sarah!

You’ve found a sac spider, in the genus Cheiracanthium. I can’t be 100% sure which species they are, but due in small part to their colour and mostly to the fact that they’re indoors, I’m leaning towards C. mildei.

Now, there’s been talk of Cheiracanthium spiders having a necrotic venom and I can tell you, that isn’t true. There was a great study done that found that the chemical in spider venom that makes it necrotic- i.e. rots your tissues- is not found in yellow sac spider venom. So these spiders are not dangerously venomous and will typically stay away from people- as you’ve seen them up on the ceiling and in corners.

Thanks for asking and including all the info!

Please help me ID this spider! Including the legs, he measures just larger than a half dollar. We live in Fairport, NY. Thanks!

Hi, Becky!

This is the time of year for nursery web spiders, it seems. You have a female Pisaurina mira. These spiders are large, but not dangerously venomous. And, unless guarding their eggs, they’re usually very docile. They’re active hunters- which is how they end up in and near homes sometimes- and primarily build webs to house their eggs and newly hatched young.

Thank you for the submission!

Hey there, I live in Long Island New York and found this on my patio. What is it?

Hi, Dawn!

You have a nursery web spider- genus Pisaurina, most likely Pisaurina mira. I’m pretty sure that’s a male, going by the abdomen and what I can see of the pedipalps. These spiders are totally harmless.

Thanks for asking!

Hi i’m from Southern California and i took a picture of this tiny little spider a couple of years ago in late September and i’m hoping you might have a clue as to what kind of spider it could be.

Hi, Audrey!

Your little friend is a jumping spider, most likely Phidippus adumbratus. No species of jumping spider is harmful to humans and all are not dangerously venomous. Though they may bite if they feel threatened or cornered.

Thanks for asking and for the photo!

Good morning,

I live in Central Texas.

Here is another spider my wife found this morning on our patio. I’m really enjoying Texas with it’s vast amount of spiders and other insects. :)

I tried to get it to spread out it’s legs a little more, but it seemed quite content all bundled up.

Thanks!

-Sean

Hello again!

Since I can’t see the spider’s face, I can’t be certain which Phidippus you have- he could be either P. audax or P. regius. He’s most likely P. audax, since those guys occur throughout the US and P. reguis’s range is a little more limited. Both species are absolutely harmless and a delight to observe.

Thanks for the photo and your enthusiasm for bugs!

Good morning!

I live in Central Texas.

Woke up to the wife screaming a little bit ago, came out on to the patio and saw this gorgeous creature. :)

Good morning to you, Sean!

Your wife has found a male Giant Lichen Orbweaver- Araneus bicentenarius. These guys (and girls) make big, beautiful orb webs and are most often found out in the woods. They’re completely harmless and quite beneficial to have near the house, as their webs will help to keep all kinds of pest insects and bugs at bay.

Thanks for sharing the lovely photo!