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

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

The post Southern House Spider or Male Crevice Spider: NOT Chilean Recluse????? or Giant Crab Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

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

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

The post Male Crevice Weaver appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Specific recluse
Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:56 PM
Hi, I found this presumed reclusa spider in my house in Tucson, AZ. I know browns aren’t thought to be native here, but this is the fourth one I’ve found. This is the second one inside the house, and the other two were in the garage and back porch. Would this be a desert recluse, an arizona recluse, a brown recluse, or another species??
Thanks,
Clay
Tucson, Arizona

Male Southern House Spider

Hi Clay,
We too are unsure exactly which species of Recluse Spider in the genus Loxosceles you have photographed.  Exact identification may take a spider expert and may require actual examination of the specimen.  BugGuide posts a map with species distribution, and it seems Loxosceles apachea, Loxosceles arizonica, Loxosceles deserta, Loxosceles kaiba and Loxosceles sabina can all be found in Arizona, but there are no photographs identifying the differences between the species.  Both Loxosceles apachea and Loxosceles arizonica have ranges near the Tucson area. BugGuide also indicates of the Loxosceles:  “Brown spiders will not bite unless provoked. Little is known about the venom and bite of the lesser-known species of brown spiders. ‘Although there are suspected variations in virulence among the species, all Loxosceles spiders should be considered potentially capable of producing dermonecrosis to some extent.’ (Arachnids Submitted as Suspected Brown Recluse Spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae): Loxosceles Spiders Are Virtually Restricted to Their Known Distributions but Are Perceived to Exist Throughout the United States by Rick Vetter). Loxosceles venom is cytotoxic to humans. “

Update with Correction:  July 23, 2012
Thanks to a comment, we have corrected this posting.  This is actually a male Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis.  See BugGuide for additional information.

The post Male Southern House Spider, NOT Recluse Spider in Arizona appeared first on What's That Bug?.

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

The post Crevice Weaver Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

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

The post Female Crevice Weaver Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

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.

The post Southern House Spider with Spiderlings appeared first on What's That Bug?.

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

The post Crevice Weaver Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

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.

The post Crevice Weaver Spiders appeared first on What's That Bug?.

should we be concerned?
Location: found in my pourch light of my home in myrtle beach south carolina
April 11, 2012 1:05 am
Hello i noticed movement inside the light fixture on my front porch when investigating i found this lil guy not sure if it is native to where i live which is myrtle beach SC also not sure if i should be worried of how dangerous it could be i did not have the heart to kill it so i took it for a walk across the st from my house and set it free in a tree it is about thr size of a half dollar black and gray in color inside the light fixture was also a web a bunch of little dead bugs and even what looked like the dead carcus of another spider please help me identify this spider and everything about it thanks
Signature: Eric

Crevice Weaver Spider

Dear Eric,
Despite its frightening appearance, you don’t need to be concerned.  This is a female Crevice Weaver Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, which we identified on BugGuide.  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.”

Crevice Weaver Spider

The post Crevice Weaver Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Spider at my work
Location: Belle chasse louisiana
October 10, 2012 9:28 pm
I found this little guy amongst 100s of others the same size and bigger at my work. They are under an overhang shelter to an old bombshell bunker that i had to hose the nest and webs off from hanging. Theres plenty of lights that constantly stay on under there. And these critters are couped up in small round tunnel webs and balls of a messy webbing. Im wondering what they are and if they are poisonous. They are pretty big up to 2 1/2 inches including the leg length.
Signature: Keith64

Female Crevice Weaver Spider

Hi Keith64,
This is a female Crevice Weaver Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, and you can compare your photo to this image on BugGuide.  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.”  Eric Eaton has an excellent blog posting on Crevice Weaver Spiders on Bug Eric.

The post Female Crevice Weaver Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Dark Fishing Spiders- Very helpful in the house
June 14, 2011 4:25 am
You might be interested to know that dark fishing spiders absolutely love to hunt and eat brown recluses. I got rid of an infestation using my girl. (girl because she has probably more than 100 babies that I released.) If people knew about her kind eating the dangerous spiders, maybe fewer would be killed! She may be big and intimidating, but she sure helped with that problem before I got bit by a recluse a second time!
My wolf spider hunted them a bit too, but went after crickets more. Now those are spiders to have around the house! Especially because most pesticides don’t effect recluses!
Another thing about spiders-
Recluses like moisture and can climb through pipes. I had several come out of an unused sink drain and one came up through the toilet! Watch out so you don’t get your butt bit.
Signature: Cassie Bryan

Cassie’s Fishing Spider

Dear Cassie,
Thanks so much for your email.  We hope the advice you offer will prevent the Unnecessary Carnage of large and scary, though harmless Fishing Spiders.  We are illustrating your email posting with photos from our archives of a Fishing Spider and a Brown Recluse.

Male Crevice Weever from the archives

Ed. Note: June 23, 2011
Cassie just provided us with another account of raising Fishing Spiders and them feeding on Brown Recluse Spiders.  We were able to replace the Fishing Spider image from our archives with one of Cassie’s own photos.

The post Fishing Spiders and Male Crevice Weavers appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Southern House Spider?
Location: Richmond, VA
December 17, 2013 10:22 pm
I found this little friend behind my couch while looking for something. She appears to be a southern house spider.
What are they like — temperament, environment, bite, etc?
I have her in a jar. I might find a more semi-permanent solution for her later (a container I used to house a baby terrestrial tarantula who outgrew it). I don’t want her to go back to her home behind my couch (I found her webs as well as evidence of past feasts she made of escaped tarantula food — I think we’ve been “roomies” for some time, and I’ve found young males inside before as well) because I don’t want her to get squished or for her to end up in a situation where she might feel the need to bite — or to get eaten by my dog. However I don’t want to throw her outside because it’s very cold right now (I realize she is a native wild animal, but I don’t know what her species does to combat the cold, if anything special — I don’t want to just throw her out into the cold unprepared). I was thinking I could feed her for a few months and release her in an abandoned barn on a local plantation this spring.
Can you give me any general information on these guys, and confirm that she is what I think she is? Thanks!
Signature: Denise Elliott

Female Southern House Spider

Hi Denise,
We concur with your identification of this female Southern House Spider which looks exactly like this individual posted to BugGuide.  There is not much information on the Southern House Spider on the BugGuide info page, except for this comment: “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.”  So, she is totally harmless, but that does discount that a large individual might bite if carelessly handled.  We will turn elsewhere to seek additional information.  According to Featured Creatures:  “Females may live up to eight years” which means you might want to entertain the idea of keeping her as a pet as long as you have tarantula rearing experience.  While Spiders.us does not have any information on the bite, there is a photo of a large female being held.  Some of the best firsthand information we found is on a BugGuide posting by Mamata Polle who writes:  “These make suprisingly good house guests if you can tolerate their highly effective, (Though not very pretty,) web making style. Females tend to stay put until either they grow out of their retreat, they are starving to death, or their web is destroyed. For the past 13 years I’ve been living with this type of spider and have never been bitten by one, they are docile and very good at snaring flies, roaches and other household invaders. Usually when I see their webs I just leave them be, but one of our cats has recently decided he likes to eat spider webs… (Weird huh,) and that is how I ended up with Kholi, (Pictured above.) She was wandering around looking to rebuild her web where it had been, (And said cat would have come back to eat it again!) so I decided to capture and provide a home for her. She produces webbing as needed and without hesitation, which is good because she won’t eat without it! Southern House Spiders totally depend on their webs to catch food; their eyesight is poor, so they seem to, “Feel” their prey when it gets stuck and squirms, then they pounce. It is VERY dificult to get them to eat from a pair of tweezers, one must be very… patient. However they will take water very easily when they’re dehydrated, even off your finger. The first time I had one do this I thought it was biting me, but it wasn’t, it was just sucking the water out of my damp hands, which didn’t hurt. One of the best ways to distiguish this species other than their general appearence is the very fine silver hair they possess, which is most visible at the joints.  BTW: They will sometimes very convincingly play dead when threatened…:P And if they don’t mate, they can live an incredibly long time. (I have been watching one adult female for three years!)  Be Well, God Bless and Thanks for Reading. :)”
Regardless if decide to keep her as a pet or to release her back into a plantation barn in the spring, because of your sensitivity regarding the welfare of this female Southern House Spider, we are tagging your posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award.

The post Female Southern House Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Las Vegas Black Hairy Spider
Location: Henderson NV, Las Vegas suburb
July 4, 2014 12:48 pm
I love your site. I looked at your spiders for a few days but although I found the trap door spider to be close, the rear body tank is not the same shape as my unknown spider. I never saw this 2-inch spider before. It was found on the wall of my garage, in June, 110 F weather day. I captured it, took the photo then released it in some rocks at a nearby park. You can zoom in my photo to see the eyes and hair. Thank you.
Signature: Boyd in Las Vegas

Female Southern House Spider

Dear Boyd,
Unfortunately, you cannot really make out the eye arrangement of this spider in your image.  This is a female Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, and 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.”

Thanks, Dan.     Now when I walk by the park, I will say hello to her.    I never feared her but just wanted to get her farther away from human danger.
Boyd

Hi again Boyd,
Because of your sensitivity toward the natural world, we are tagging your posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award.

The post Female Southern House Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Hacklemesh Weaver Spider
Location: Central New York
July 7, 2014 6:53 pm
My mom found this spider in her ice cream churn that she kept in her basement and asked me to identify if it was dangerous or not. I took some pictures of it and released it into a pile of slate outside. From what I can tell, I’m pretty sure it is a female Hacklemesh Weaver Spider. Is my id of it correct and should she worry about them?
Signature: good son

What’s That Spider???

Dear good son,
Alas, we aren’t certain.  Your spider does resemble this female Hacklemesh Weaver, Amaurobius ferox, that is posted to BugGuide, however the BugGuide individual seems to have longer and thinner legs than your individual.  Our first thought was female Southern House Spider, but BugGuide does not report them as far north as New York.  Perhaps one of our readers can assist in this identification.

The post Black Spider: Hacklemesh Weaver or Southern House Spider??? appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: What kind of spider is this?
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
November 10, 2014 11:38 am
Hello Bugman. What kind of spider is this? Our guess is a type of Huntsman, but there are so many different types of Huntsman photos online, and none really match well. The purple leg segments are beautiful. There is the tip of a standard chopstick in the photo for scale: The spider is 2 to 2 1/4 inches long. Thank you.
Signature: Doug

Tengellid Spider

Dear Doug,
We do not think this is a Huntsman Spider.  We are not certain, but your spider resembles a male Crevice Weaver in the genus Kukulcania.  See this image from BugGuide for comparison.  At least one member of the genus is found in California.  We are going to seek assistance from Eric Eaton and Mandy Howe on your spider’s identity.

Tengellid Spider

Eric Eaton Responds
Hi, Daniel:
This is something in the family Tengellidae (no common name), maybe in the genus Titiotus.
Eric

Very cool!  Thanks Daniel and please thank Eric for us.  It sure looks like a Titiotus.  It’s wonderful to learn this Genus is native to CA and bite is harmless.  Sorry, we did not get a close-up of features to identify the species.  It is now roaming around our home in places unknown.  I found other Titiotus observations close-by and around CA on iNaturalist Genus Titiotus after getting Eric’s email.  Also see you have a Tengellid post from almost exactly 1 year ago, ironically from Doug, but not me, and near where we have relatives.  Thank you too for the very fast replies.  Most ironically, my last name is Titus!  Oh the web of coincidence.  Cheers, Doug

The post Tengellid Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Southern House Spider
Location: Richmond, VA
February 20, 2015 12:59 am
Some time ago, I think last winter (maybe the one before), I wrote to you about a southern house spider I caught behind my couch and was going to release in the spring — you suggested I keep her, as I have tarantula experience, and I did. She’s fat and happy to this day, and she’s grown some.
This winter, I have another friend. She lives above my bed, behind an animal-skin wall hanging. I saw the web and meant to brush it away, off of my stuff (it makes all of the fur stick together and look bad), but then I saw her and realized the space was occupied. For now, and very probably permanently, she can stay, as it’s somewhere she’s safe from us accidentally hurting her, and from us being bitten on accident. I’m probably going to start feeding her periodically, so she will be more likely to stay put, instead of setting up camp somewhere less safe. I noticed her weeks ago, but I don’t see her very often. She very likely could have been living there for months. In this picture, she is out on her web “patio”, hanging out. I notice she does this at night sometimes, but usually she’s hidden all day. It’s interesting how her web is — it looks like a snowflake against the wall, and seems to exist mostly so that she can sit there with out losing footing and falling.
I’ve seen some males in my house. I think there’s a big “family” living with me.
Here’s some good pictures, if you want to put them on your website.
Best regards,
Denise Elliott

Southern House Spider

Dear Denise,
Thanks for updating us on the Southern House Spiders with which you are sharing your home .

The post Southern House Spider cohabitates with humans!!! appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Recluse or Harmless?
Location: Antelope Valley, California
July 30, 2015 2:50 pm
I found this big guy in my yard, polled my friends, half say it’s a brown recluse, half say it’s harmless… One guy said “it’s just a penny”…
I live in the high desert in Southern California, it’s super dry and hot. Help me out here!
Signature: -Roni

Male Crevice Weaver Spider, we believe

Hi Roni,
We are going to side with the half that say it is harmless.  Brown Recluse Spiders have a violin pattern on the cephalothorax .  Male Crevice Weaver Spiders in the genus Kukulcania, including the male Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis, are frequently mistaken for Brown Recluse Spiders.  BugGuide only lists the Southern House Spider as far west as Texas, but a relative, Kukulcania geophila, is found in California and this image from BugGuide looks very similar to your individual.  Of the entire genus Kukulcania, BugGuide notes:  “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.”  Finally, according to BugGuide, the Brown Recluse Spider does not get as far west as California.

The post Male Crevice Weaver Spider, we believe appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Southern House Spider?
Location: Richmond, VA
December 17, 2013 10:22 pm
I found this little friend behind my couch while looking for something. She appears to be a southern house spider.
What are they like — temperament, environment, bite, etc?
I have her in a jar. I might find a more semi-permanent solution for her later (a container I used to house a baby terrestrial tarantula who outgrew it). I don’t want her to go back to her home behind my couch (I found her webs as well as evidence of past feasts she made of escaped tarantula food — I think we’ve been “roomies” for some time, and I’ve found young males inside before as well) because I don’t want her to get squished or for her to end up in a situation where she might feel the need to bite — or to get eaten by my dog. However I don’t want to throw her outside because it’s very cold right now (I realize she is a native wild animal, but I don’t know what her species does to combat the cold, if anything special — I don’t want to just throw her out into the cold unprepared). I was thinking I could feed her for a few months and release her in an abandoned barn on a local plantation this spring.
Can you give me any general information on these guys, and confirm that she is what I think she is? Thanks!
Signature: Denise Elliott

Female Southern House Spider

Hi Denise,
We concur with your identification of this female Southern House Spider which looks exactly like this individual posted to BugGuide.  There is not much information on the Southern House Spider on the BugGuide info page, except for this comment: “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.”  So, she is totally harmless, but that does discount that a large individual might bite if carelessly handled.  We will turn elsewhere to seek additional information.  According to Featured Creatures:  “Females may live up to eight years” which means you might want to entertain the idea of keeping her as a pet as long as you have tarantula rearing experience.  While Spiders.us does not have any information on the bite, there is a photo of a large female being held.  Some of the best firsthand information we found is on a BugGuide posting by Mamata Polle who writes:  “These make suprisingly good house guests if you can tolerate their highly effective, (Though not very pretty,) web making style. Females tend to stay put until either they grow out of their retreat, they are starving to death, or their web is destroyed. For the past 13 years I’ve been living with this type of spider and have never been bitten by one, they are docile and very good at snaring flies, roaches and other household invaders. Usually when I see their webs I just leave them be, but one of our cats has recently decided he likes to eat spider webs… (Weird huh,) and that is how I ended up with Kholi, (Pictured above.) She was wandering around looking to rebuild her web where it had been, (And said cat would have come back to eat it again!) so I decided to capture and provide a home for her. She produces webbing as needed and without hesitation, which is good because she won’t eat without it! Southern House Spiders totally depend on their webs to catch food; their eyesight is poor, so they seem to, “Feel” their prey when it gets stuck and squirms, then they pounce. It is VERY dificult to get them to eat from a pair of tweezers, one must be very… patient. However they will take water very easily when they’re dehydrated, even off your finger. The first time I had one do this I thought it was biting me, but it wasn’t, it was just sucking the water out of my damp hands, which didn’t hurt. One of the best ways to distiguish this species other than their general appearence is the very fine silver hair they possess, which is most visible at the joints.  BTW: They will sometimes very convincingly play dead when threatened…:P And if they don’t mate, they can live an incredibly long time. (I have been watching one adult female for three years!)  Be Well, God Bless and Thanks for Reading. :)”
Regardless if decide to keep her as a pet or to release her back into a plantation barn in the spring, because of your sensitivity regarding the welfare of this female Southern House Spider, we are tagging your posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award.

The post Female Southern House Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Spider
Location: Las Vegas, NV
January 19, 2016 7:42 pm
Just want to know what kind of spider is this and other information. It showed up at my work.
Signature: J. Bressler

Crevice Weaver Spider

Dear J. Bressler,
We believe this is a Crevice Weaver Spider in the genus Kukulcania, and a member of the genus found further east is known as the Southern House Spider.  You can compare your image to this BugGuide image and to Southern House Spiders on Spiderz Rule.

The post Crevice Weaver Spider appeared first on What's That Bug?.

Subject: Southern House Spider
Location: Richmond, VA
February 20, 2015 12:59 am
Some time ago, I think last winter (maybe the one before), I wrote to you about a southern house spider I caught behind my couch and was going to release in the spring — you suggested I keep her, as I have tarantula experience, and I did. She’s fat and happy to this day, and she’s grown some.
This winter, I have another friend. She lives above my bed, behind an animal-skin wall hanging. I saw the web and meant to brush it away, off of my stuff (it makes all of the fur stick together and look bad), but then I saw her and realized the space was occupied. For now, and very probably permanently, she can stay, as it’s somewhere she’s safe from us accidentally hurting her, and from us being bitten on accident. I’m probably going to start feeding her periodically, so she will be more likely to stay put, instead of setting up camp somewhere less safe. I noticed her weeks ago, but I don’t see her very often. She very likely could have been living there for months. In this picture, she is out on her web “patio”, hanging out. I notice she does this at night sometimes, but usually she’s hidden all day. It’s interesting how her web is — it looks like a snowflake against the wall, and seems to exist mostly so that she can sit there with out losing footing and falling.
I’ve seen some males in my house. I think there’s a big “family” living with me.
Here’s some good pictures, if you want to put them on your website.
Best regards,
Denise Elliott

Southern House Spider

Dear Denise,
Thanks for updating us on the Southern House Spiders with which you are sharing your home .

The post Southern House Spider cohabitates with humans!!! appeared first on What's That Bug?.