Crevice Weaver Spider

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Crevice Weaver Spiders

recluse or wolf spiders?
Location: Las Vegas nevada
November 21, 2010 10:05 am
I seen many spiders around my home when since my family and I moved in two years ago. My husband thought they were wolf spiders and told me not to worry so I wasn’t to concerned about them.
Recently I’ve seen pictures of both the recluse and wolf spiders and now I’m confused as to what mine are.
I’m concerned for the safety of my kids since there are such a large number of them.
I try to grab my camera every time I see an interesting or scary bug. I’ve got pictures of different spiders, they might not even be the same species.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Signature: Thank You (your bug-a-phobic friend) Emm

Male Crevice Weaver Spider, not Recluse Spider?

Dear Emm,
Only one of the spider images you attached is a Recluse Spider, and since the quality of that image is different, we are surmising that perhaps you didn’t even take that photo, though your email does not indicate that. We will attempt to identify your other spiders.

Female Crevice Weaver Spider, we believe

Update/Correction
Hi again Emm,
Now we are having second thoughts. We believe all of your spiders Crevice Weaver spiders in the genus Kukulcania, possibly the Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis. The lighter colored one with the longer legs looks just like a male Southern House Spider posted to BugGuide. The other specimens look like females that are posted to BugGuide. We would encourage anyone reading to confirm or correct this identification.

Female Crevice Weaver Spider, we believe

Eric Eaton Concurs
Hi, Daniel:
… Well, it is definitely a species of Kukulcania, but I don’t think that species (K. hibernalis) ranges into Nevada. Likely a different species.
Eric

Update from Emm
I took all the photo’s myself. The first photo was of a spider that was inside my home. I took that picture after putting the spider inside a plastic container, that’s why the quality looks different. the other spiders were all outside and I took the photo’s from a distance.
I wasn’t aware that I could identify the spiders by their eye configurations. next time I’ll know where to point the camera. I read that recluse spiders don’t have fine hairs on their legs and it’s easy to see that there is hair on the legs of my spider which leaves me to believe that you correctly identified mine to be house spiders.
I know now not to do an image search to help me identify insects. the results were very misinforming
I appreciate all your help. If you’re interested I have photo’s of other insects, most of the pictures are in good quality. the photo’s are of aphids, a June beetle, an adult and a juvenile praying mantis, a male carpenter bee and a beetle. I’m unaware of the exact species but it’s bigger than my hand. I took pictures of it from where it was when I first seen it and then took more pictures of it while it was in a container. . if you’d like to see them let me know. I’m not a photographer but I think some of them are good shots
Thank You for all your help; Emm
p.s. All of the bugs that I’ve captured were taken away from my house and set free. I don’t kill them.

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¶ Posted 21 November 2010 § ‡ Comments (2) °

Brown Recluse?
March 29, 2010
We found this spider in Cleveland, Texas this past February while cleaning out a neglected bookshelf. It was between the books in a rather disorderly looking web. The house it was found in is in a wooded area. We’ve been keeping it in a container with wound wire for observation since, and it has established an intricate, cob-webby web between the wires and is living on a steady diet of mosquito hawks and silverfish. We’ve done a lot of image searching for an identity, but the closest we can find is that it’s a brown recluse. However, it lacks a distinct violin marking (although a dark line similar to the violin neck runs down the cephalothorax), the pedipalps are much more defined and less tufty, and the legs seem to be less spindly. We haven’t been able to get a coun t on the eyes, as they’re a bit hard to see. We’ve noticed some small indentions in pairs on the dorsal side of the abdomen, no idea what those are. If its behavior is of any help, we’ve noticed that it cuts its finished prey from its web to let it fall (although perhaps that’s common in spiders). Any help would be much appreciated! Also, if you happen to know, we’d love to know what those indentions are (pictured in photo 3)! Thanks very much.
Laura and Michael
Cleveland, Texas

Crevice Weaver Spider

Dear Laura and Michael,
You may rest assured that this is not a Brown Recluse. It is a Crevice Weaver Spider in the genus Kukulcania, and it is well represented on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “These spiders create a tube-like retreat in cracks. This spider varies greatly in color from light brown to dark black. Females are generally grey to black while the males are tan. Males look very similar to the Recluse spiders, except they have much longer pedipalps, eight eyes (not six as in the Recluse family), and very long front legs.“ It is our opinion that your specimen is a female.

Crevice Weaver Spider

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¶ Posted 29 March 2010 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Southern House Spider with Spiderlings

Trapdoor Spider with Young?
January 31, 2010
Tearing down a shed in South Goergia I found her with hatchlings. I laid a quarter down next to her for scale. She looked a lot more impressive with he legs stetched out, but still a cool speciman.
Wild Man
South Georgia

Southern House Spider with Spiderlings

Dear Wild Man,
This looks to us like a Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, one of the Crevice Weaver Spiders. According to BugGuide: “Females are frequently mistaken for small tarantulas or trapdoor spiders. Males are often mistaken for recluse spiders (Loxosceles). This is a totally harmless species that builds ‘messy’ webs emanating from crevices, often on the outside of homes.“ Your photo nicely illustrates the maternal care many spiders exhibit toward their spiderlings.

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¶ Posted 01 February 2010 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Female Crevice Weaver Spider

Big spider on my door
October 15, 2009
We came home and we went “Eaahh!” There was a huge (2″?) spider on our front door. After some fiddling with our camera we managed to get a couple of half-decent photos of it. We thought it might be the California Trapdoor Spider that some others have met recently, but it’s body isn’t shiny and black and doesn’t quite look the same.
The Gandolfo Family
Hills outside Santa Rosa, Northern California

Crevice Weaver Spider

Dear Gandolfo Family
As much as we would have loved this to be a female California Trapdoor Spider, we believe it is a female Crevice Weaver Spider in the genus Kukulcania. We found some closely matching images on BugGuide. One of the postings on BugGuide indicates that individuals in this genus may live for 10 years. Males are sometimes mistaken for Brown Recluse Spiders. BugGuide has additional information. We also are providing a link to images of the female California Trapdoor Spider, though they rarely leave their burrows.

Crevice Weaver Spider

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¶ Posted 17 October 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Crevice Weaver Spider

Larger black and brown spider maybe tarantula
Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 7:50 PM
We live in Dayton Nevada 15 miles from Carson City Nevada. My husband found this spider about 2 weeks ago underneath a board outside. In the last 2 weeks he/she has doubled in size and loves crickets. When we first found him/her was half the size it is now ( body is about 1 inch long and with the legs about an inch and 1/2 long. When we first found him/her it was all black now the rear end of the spider is a silky brown very short hair on the rear end and two back legs, upper part of the body is slick looking as well as the front two sets of legs. It appears that there is a set of eyes in the middle of the head, almost in a prymaid looking area. The spider has very larger feeder arms on the front as well.
The spider really doesn’t make webs, it seems that it only webs so that it can’t eat whatever it has bitten. So is this a baby tarantula? Thanks for your help.
Jennifer DeForest
Dayton Nevada

probably Crevice Weaver Spider

Hi Jennifer,
All of your photos are quite blurry, but we believe this may be a young Tarantula in the genus Aphonopelma since the markings match some images posted to BugGuide. We will contact Eric Eaton to see if he is more certain. Is this spider now being kept in captivity? Are you, by chance, related to our good friend John who is a landscape architect in Laguna?

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:20:17 -0800 (PST)
Daniel:
You aren’t kidding about “blurry.” LOL! Impossible to be certain, but I think that the spider is a “crevice weaver” in the family Filistatidae. They should stop feeding the thing for awhile, too. Spiders are opportunistic predators, and will overeat if fed too regularly (in the wild they don’t know when the next meal is coming).
There are some great images of filistatids over at Bugguide that they can compare to. I’m pretty certain this is not a tarantula.
Eric

UPdate:
Here is an after thought, I was researching on bug guide and I believe now that this is either a trapdoor spider or a Crevice Weavers (Filistatidae) »Kukulcania I can not tell which. After looking through the pictures and looking at my spider, I see that he has bands on his legs where they attach to the body. I would better describe the hair as velvet looking. I just can not decided which spider he is and if it is a he or a she. I have also noticed he has atleast 1 dimple on his butt, and no spinnerets. I am unsure if either of these spiders are supposed to be in my area.
Thanks for all your help.
Jennifer DeForest

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¶ Posted 30 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (2) °

Male Crevice Weaver

Spider – kukulcania, southern house spider?
Hi WTB,
We saw this spider on the side of our apartment in Las Vegas, NV. We’re not entirely sure what it is, but the best we can identify is the perhaps Kukulcania hibernalis (or loxosceles, but we hope not!) You can see in the picture that it has big black hairs on the legs, and the legs start out as a beige/yellow and end with a darker brown/black at the “feet.” We couldn’t exactly identify a “violin” on the back, but we didn’t have much for a frame of reference; however, the kukulcania seems to have the squarish abdomen, while the recluse seems to have a larger, bulbous abdomen. We also didn’t observe the double row on 3 eyes that the recluse is said to have. Overall, the spider’s diameter including its legs and feet were about the size of soda can. We were about to give up and call this a violin spider/recluse, but then saw on page 9 of the Spiders the conversation about the kukulcania, and are happier with that identification in regards to correctness and the related degree of danger! We hope this picture will be a good addition to your pages, and thanks so much for having a great website to research through! Best wishes,
Trish M., Las Vegas NV

tengellidae Male Crevice Weaver

Hi Trish,
We disagree with both of your suggestions, but are unsure ourselves. We are thinking perhaps one of the Tengellid Spiders in the family Tengellidae based on images we found on BugGuide. Wikipedia has some information. We will try to get Eric Eaton’s opinion. If we are correct, this is a new family for What’s That Bug?

Correction: We Were Wrong and Trish was right!!!
Daniel: No, but if I hadn’t seen the thing before, I would have absolutely no idea where to begin! The image is of a male “crevice weaver” in the genus Kukulcania, family Filistatidae. Many folks mistake them for a brown recluse, which they do resemble at a cursory glance. Females look more like diminutive tarantulas and are darker in color. Crevice weavers are not dangerously venomous to people, but are common inhabitants of homes, usually on the exterior of the house, though.
Eric

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¶ Posted 26 March 2008 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Southern House Spider or Male Crevice Spider: NOT Chilean Recluse????? or Giant Crab Spider

Big Spider from South Carolina
Dear Bug Man,
Last summer I had a slight infestation of quite large not overly hairy spiders. It seems like I took out about three this size, including the one which ran across my face at 3 am . After jumping from my face, it hit the carpet with an audible thud. We have a very spider friendly attic and had a bit of a spider sized gap on one end of the pull down attic access stair. I’ve since sealed the crack around the door and haven’t seen more of the big guys. This specimen was found trapped in our bathtub. I could actually hear it scratching around on the sides of the tub in an attempt at escape. If I remember correctly the leg span was around 2+ inches… wish I’d put a ruler next to it. I would have done a “catch and release” but its level of activity made me hesitant to let it out of my sight so I dispatched it with a blast of tile cleaner. I just didn’t want this thing running around in my house with my 5 year old daughter if it’s a bad one. Just so you know, with my daughter carefully supervising, I typically catch and release just about every jumping spider, brown house spider, frog, lizard, etc. which manage to make it into our house. Recently, I’ve noticed a good number of very pale off white or cream colored baby spiders with very fine long legs and about this body shape turning up around the house. They are about 1⁄4” in size (leg span) and are very hard to see because of their color. If you identify the attached photo as being something scary, I’ll definitely try to get an image of the little ones and send it along as well. I know you are covered up during this “buggy” time of year, but I hope to hear from you on this one. I’ve yet to be able to positively make a match to the photos I’ve found on the web. Many thanks,
Kert Huggins
Hilton Head island ,South Carolina

olios kert Southern House Spider or Male Crevice Spider: NOT Chilean Recluse????? or Giant Crab Spider

Hi Kert,
My what impressive pedipalps your spider has. We believe this is a Giant Crab Spider in the genus Olios. There is a photo on BugGuide of Olios faciculatus that is a near perfect match. The biggest difference we notice is that the legs on your spider seem considerably more spindly. We would love to get another opinion on this identification.

Update: (07/01/2007)
Olios spider or something more dangerous?
I am not a spider expert as you know, and for sure you may want not to post this alarming suggestion until you are a lot more sure about it than I am, but the non-hairy legs and the shape of the legs makes this look like a recluse to me, maybe like a male of the Chilean recluse? (the Chilean recluse is larger than the brown recluse.) I can’t exactly see if there is a violin-shaped mark on the cephalothorax… But take a look at: http://www.doacs.state.fl.us /pi/enpp/ento/loxoscel.html
Susan

Hi Susan,
We did not want to be alarmist about this, but the stated size and the lack of the identifying violin mark stopped us from posting the nagging suspicion that this might be a Recluse. Perhaps it is time to sound the alarm and see if we can get an expert to weigh in.

Update: Male Crevice Spider (07/02/2007)
Hi Daniel,
I managed to get two spider experts (one in FLA and one here in NYC) to weigh in on the scary-looking spider from South Carolina, and the good news is that it is NOT a Recluse at all (and not an Olios either) but a male crevice spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, family Filistatidae. I asked them if I can send WTB their detailed replies. Let you know soon I hope. Arachnologist, Florida State Collection of Arthropods: “Hi Susan, The photo is of a male crevice spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, family Filistatidae, a species often mistaken for a recluse spider. These are common through the Southeast, especially on buildings. I frequently encounter them in my house. Females have a body length of about an inch, are dark charcoal gray in color, and make flat, very sticky, cobwebs in corners, and around windows and doors. While the females can give a painful bite if trapped against bare skin, the net effect is similar to a wasp sting. It doesn?t cause necrotic wounds like a recluse. When I see males wandering around my house, I pick them up and throw them outside. Hope this helps. Best wishes”
Susan

Hi Susan,
We want to give you and the Florida State Arachnologist a great big thanks.

The second Expert ID on SC spider
This from Louis Sorkin, AMNH, some info that might be useful for you Daniel: “Not a Loxosceles species, nor Olios, but could be a male Filistatid of genus Kukulcania. Hard to tell from the photo even though I downloaded it and magnified it, it wasn’t high enough resolution.Also meant to point out that the eye arrangement is not like an Olios at all, which has 2 transverse rows of 4 eyes each, while the Loxosceles has 3 diads of eyes (6 total). Filistatid spider has a concentration of eyes in front third of cephalothorax, so no diads, no discernable transverse rows. Kukulcania males have long legs and slender body compared to females. His palps are also elongated, but hard to really see the tips in photo. Louis”
Susan

(07/02/2007) Big Spider from South Carolina
Daniel,
I was just about to write and ask it the crevice spider was a possibility based on an image in the following link you sent earlier. The flat very stick web confirms it! They are present all around the gable end vents in my attic space. What appears to be bare wood is covered in a very sticky almost film like layer of web. I was concerned about the potential of a type of recluse as we have relatives in Florida and receive boxes from them regularly. We also spent 3 years in Gainesville, Florida while my wife attended U.F. so a stowaway was a possibility. Thank you so very much for the extraordinary lengths you went to make this identification. I will sleep much better tonight!
Kert Huggins

(07/02/2007)
Great detective work by everyone on the male crevice spider! The angle of the image managed to camouflage those incredible pedipalps, which are a hallmark for ID of the males.
Eric Eaton

(07/03/2007)
I have looked around with Google and wanted to also let you know that this spider seems to be most often known as the ‘Southern House Spider’ which makes it sound even more common and even less threatening… Best,
Susan

add Southern House Spider or Male Crevice Spider: NOT Chilean Recluse????? or Giant Crab Spider

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¶ Posted 26 June 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Crevice Weaving Spider

big black hairy spider
i live in the desert by palm springs and found this huge spider it was at the bottom of a cup .looks like a small tarantula to me .all black with grey body hairy and fangs big fangs .It chases my finger. please help me thank you
TANYA

kukulcania Crevice Weaving Spider

Hi Tanya,
We sought out Eric Eaton for advice. Here is what he believes: “Pretty sure this spider is a Filistatid, family Filistatidae, probably Kukulcania. There are some nice images on bugguide you can compare to. I can’t see images on my WebTV that well, actually. Eric ” These are commonly called Crevice Weaving Spiders.