unknown arachnid
Location: Montgomery, Illinois (near Aurora)
October 2, 2011 10:03 pm
I sent you some pictures early in September of an arachnid that I could not identify. I have not yet seen a post of my picture or letter, but I have since found on your website a similar arachnid (posted March 5 this year) identified as a long-jawed orbweaver spider, and the photo from Bug Guide which you referred to in that post showed more clearly the resemblance. I am sending you another picture of my arachnid; there are some differences in that the body marking are different and the forelegs of my arachnid appear to be a bit longer. The plant it is shown on is a milkweed.
Signature: wildflower photog
Longjawed Orbweaver
Dear wildflower photog,
We apologize for not responding to your earlier email, because we would have surely posted the photos had we seen them. Alas, our tiny staff hasn’t the time to even read all the submissions we receive. You are correct that this is a Longjawed Orbweaver, but there are numerous species in the genus Tetragnatha. We have just identified your individual as Tetragnatha elongata, and it is a near perfect match to this photo posted to BugGuide. According to BugGuide, it is a wide ranging species in North America.
Longjawed Orbweaver
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Big ol’ spider
Location: Florida Panhandle
October 1, 2011 11:39 AM
In other spider news, this is floating on a ball in our pool as we speak. Even though it looks like a purple tennis ball, it is the size of a basketball, so this is a big spider. If I’m not mistaken, those are baby spiders on a mother’s back. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Jeff, in the panhandle of Florida
Wolf Spider with Spiderlings
Hi Jeff,
You are absolutely correct in thinking those are spiderlings on the back of the mother spider. This is a Wolf Spider and Wolf Spiders are known for their maternal care. The female drags an egg case behind her from silken threads attached to her spinnerets. When the eggs hatch, the young spiderlings will ride around on the mother’s back for several days, eventually dispersing as they drop off or jump off. This behavior affords them some additional protection from predators as well as ensuring that all the spiderlings do not deplete the available food supply in a specific area, ensuring that they do not compete with one another for the food supply. We wanted a nice photo of a spider to use as our Bug of the Month for October and your letter arrived in such a timely manner that we selected the Wolf Spider as our October Bug of the Month.
Wolf Spider with Spiderlings
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Beautiful little spider
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
October 1, 2011 3:25 pm
I’ve just spent about the last half hour or so observing this charming little character, which looks to be some sort of jumping spider, but is quite different from the majority of jumping spiders I see around here, which are identified on your fine site as Bold Jumping Spiders. However, I notice you’ve also said this species has a tendency to have a lot of different color morphs, so I am not sure if they are the same? The gold stripes look very metallic.
He(?) seems to have unusually mobile and dextrous pedipalps( is that the right word? Little not-quite-leg things in front of his face), which he was using to repeatedly wipe his eyes and feel the ground in front of him, which made me wonder if something( dust? Sunlight?) was causing an eye irritation. What do you think?
Signature: An Aspie Arachnophile
Bold Jumper with atypical coloration
Dear Aspie Arachnophile,
You have sure done your research. As you indicate, the Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax, has great variability in its coloration. We did locate a photo on BugGuide that is identified as a Bold Jumper with atypical coloration that looks just like your individual. Since you have indicated that you see Bold Jumpers, we can confirm with a degree of certainty that this is also a Bold Jumper. Pedipalps is the proper name for the appendages you mention. We do not believe that dust or sunlight is bothering this spider’s eyes, but the spider might have been grooming.
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Help! Is this spider dangerous?
Location: Southwest United States (house in Albuquerque, NM)
September 27, 2011 8:46 pm
Hello,
I am highly allergic (not deathly allergic, I don’t think) to spider bites. I am also pregnant. I’ve killed two of these spiders in the last week, and I’m worried they might pose a danger. Please let me know how I can get rid of them, if there might be a nest in the house, or any other safety advice. The attached photo is blown up. The spider itself measured barely 1 centimeter.
Signature: Mei
Jumping Spider
Hi Mei,
This is a harmless Jumping Spider in the family Salticidae, and it is also classified in the genus Phidippus. We often have difficulty identifying Jumping Spiders to the species level because many species look similar and individuals within a species often have great variability. This individual looks similar to a photo posted to BugGuide of Phidippus princeps. Jumping Spiders do not build webs to snare prey. They have excellent eyesight and they hunt and pounce on prey. They are often found feeding on flies and they will help keep the House Fly population down in your yard. While we say that they are harmless, and we have never received a report of anyone being bitten by a Jumping Spider, the possibility does exist. They should be handled with caution, or better yet, not handled at all.
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Identify spider please
Location: South British Columbia, Canada. Okanagan Region.
September 24, 2011 4:18 pm
Hello,
We have these spiders come out in fall. Someone identified them as a type of trap door, related to tarantula. I would like another opinion please. They have ranged from not aggressive at all to being very aggressive. We have warm to hot summers and mild winters. They like to come inside our house when it gets cool out in fall and when maybe it is mating season?
Thank you,
Curt
Signature: Best wishes?
Folding Door Spider
Hi Curt,
We agree with the identification you received, however, we will take that a bit farther. Based on photos posted to BugGuide, we believe your spider is the same species as an unidentified species in the genus Antrodiaetus. There are several images on BugGuide from the Pacific Northwest with the same coloration. Folding Door Spiders are one group of Trapdoor Spiders. We also believe your individual is a male. Males often wander in search of mates while females remain in their burrows, hence it is less likely to encounter a female Trapdoor Spider. Despite your observation that some individuals act aggressively, Trapdoor Spiders are not considered a harmful species to humans.
Folding Door Spider
Hi Daniel,
Awesome, thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate the time you have taken.
This one in particular was very calm. When I find them in our house, I always catch them and let them go outside. It gives us an opportunity to have a good look at them as they’re quite interesting. Over the past ten years or so, we have run into several wandering around our back door and in our basement. In addition, we have a lot that look like different types of wolf spiders but many more that look like the hobo spider too. I find it hard to tell the difference.
Regarding the folding door spider, the first time I saw one was when our cat went to get a closer look at something. I saw the spider rear up and then run after our cat! I thought I was seeing things! It kind of looked like it was bent upward and its front legs were spread apart and in the air as it ran. In another instance, when I was trying to catch one in our house, it reared up like the one that chased after our cat and then jumped at me. I had the heebie jeebies for days. All the other ones we’ve caught have been calm. Maybe the ones that have seemed aggressive have not been, and are just after warmth or going towards vibration or something? Or maybe they were just very passionate? Seems too Hollywood.
Thank you for the information.
Curt
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Is this one of those Silver Argiope?
Location: Mansfield, Ohio
September 23, 2011 5:24 pm
OK so i am REALLY NOT a spider person but i have never seen this kind of spider. She hangs out on my garage door where here huge round egg sac is. I have read about the orb weavers but one difference i find is that she does not have a bumpy thorax. They also said they are not common in the north, i live in Mansfield, Ohio. She is full size cause i bet she measures if not a full inch close to it.
Signature: Freaked out by silver spider
Banded Garden Orbweaver
Dear Freaked out …,
You have the genus correct, but not the species. This is actually a Banded Garden Orbweaver, Argiope trifasciata. Like the other members of the genus, the Banded Garden Orbweaver is not considered dangerous, however, it might bite if it feels threatened or if it is carelessly handled.
1
Creepy Bug, Spider, Tick, Ant?
Location: Bethesda, MD
September 24, 2011 2:52 pm
Dear Bugman,
First of all, my fiancee makes fun of me for loving your website…silly him, when he sees what you can do!
We just bought a house in Maryland, and have been finding these bugs on our walls every few days. They are tiny, fast, and look like they would bite (humans, pets, plants?) I love bugs and took an entomology class in college, but am totally stumped. I can’t tell if it has 8 legs or if the front pair is something other than legs. I tried flushing one down the toilet and when I dumped it in, it was suddenly hanging from a string…so it seems probable that it is a spider (does that violate WTB rules?). I’m hoping you can help…
Signature: I love *most* bugs, but not this one!
Jumping Spider
Dear Ilmb,bnto,
This is some species of Jumping Spider, but there is not enough detail for us to discern with certainty the species. There are several possibilities in the subfamily Dendryphantinae that look similar based on photos posted to BugGuide. Jumping Spider are not harmful to humans. While we cannot force you to love things, we can encourage you to be more tolerant with these magnificent hunter that will keep flies and other unwanted insects from your house.
1
Two Questions
Location: Long Beach
September 23, 2011 4:06 pm
Dear Daniel,
I love bugs and love this site so much. I find myself lost in the archives of such fascinating images and information often. I write for a collaborative blog called A COLLECTION OF (www.collectionof.org) I am going to be posting about an orb weaver (attached) and wondered if might be interested in doing an interview with us. (if you are I can send you the questions) We would be so thrilled to have you on the blog! Either way – if you can help in identifying this spider that would be great! I hope to be posting soon in conjunction with the spider pavilion exhibition.
Signature: All the best, Stefani
Western Spotted Orbweaver
Hi Stefani,
We sometimes have difficulty identifying the many different species of Orbweavers, but we believe this is the Western Spotted Orbweaver, Neoscona oaxacensis, which Charles Hogue, in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, wrote is “our most common orbweaver; in late summer and fall, its moderate=sized webs adorn gardens everywhere in the basin.” Thanks for your compliment. Send your questions our way and we will try our best to answer them.
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