Categories

UNKNOWN SPIDER-STH CALIFORNIA.
HI BUGMAN,
This spider was found in a pool in Calabasas Southern California. I have seen 3 other website site images of this spider, all found in pools in Southern California. No one has managed to identify it so far?
Cheers,
Derek.

Hi Derek,
Just last week, our neighbors Jeannie and Ayn delivered a similar spider to our Mt. Washington doorstep. It was found in their pool. You both, and I assume the three other people online as well, have a male California Trap-Door Spider, Bothriocyrtum californicum. The males have the reddish abdomen and longer legs. Females are much stouter spiders with shorter legs. They build burrows with trap-doors and ambush prey that wanders past. They prefer sunny, dry, south-facing hillsides. The males are much shorter lived than the females who rarely leave their burrows. Males have the longer legs so they can travel in search of a mate. Often they meet an untimely end by drowning in swimming pools. Rains seem to trigger the mating activity.

Related Posts

1. Male Trapdoor Spider (July 4, 2008)
2. Drowned Trap-Door Spiders (June 28, 2004)
3. Trapdoor Spider (December 18, 2005)
4. Male California Trapdoor Spider (November 28, 2008)
5. California Trapdoor Spider: Male Spiders emerge with the rain (October 15, 2009)