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bug of the month

What Kind of Spider is This?
Hello,
I friend has this spider in his house in LA, California, see attachment. What kind is this, it looks to be over 2″ in length.
Craig Baugher

(03/01/2008) i officially have the creeps
hi:
this photo has given me the willies, big-time: could it be real? enhanced? photoshopped? just tell me it’s nowhere in north america.
cheers,
nick

Hi Craig and Nick,
Interestingly, you both sent us the same photo for identification. This is a female Giant Crab Spider in the family Sparassidae, probably the genus Olios. Nice image of the maternal behavior. We have read that the mother spider shares prey with her spiderlings. We are so intrigued with this image, and also amused that two different people requested the identification, so we decided to make it our Bug of the Month for March. By the way Nick, Craig says it was photographed in Los Angeles. Giant Crab Spiders in the genus Olios are shy, nocturnal hunters and they are harmless. They will actually help rid a home of cockroaches.

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