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.

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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.

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Subject: What’s this spider
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains California
November 7, 2016 8:51 am
I was out I was out getting silverfish for my blue belly lizards. And underneath one of the two by fours on the deck was this pretty large spider. which I have never seen in my 50 years living here. I like spiders because they eat mosquitoes and other nasy pests. so can you help me identify it?
Signature: Fixitwill

Possibly Female Crevice Weaver Spider

Dear Fixitwill,
Though your image lack critical clarity, we believe this might be a female Crevice Weaver Spider in the genus Kuculcania.  See BugGuide for some images.

Wow thank you so much for your time!! It was hard to get a good picture because it kept moving around on me.

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Subject:  Large Spider scurries from under the recycle bin!
Location:  Mount Washington, Los Angeles, California
December 13, 2016 11:30 AM
Alas, we did not have a camera handy when we made this exciting sighting of a reddish colored, male Southern House Spider which is reported from Los Angeles according to BugGuide.  We had to take a close look to ensure this was not a Recluse Spider.

Southern House Spider (from our archives)

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Subject: Brown Recluse?
Location: Charleston, SC
July 21, 2017 8:16 pm
Greetings,
I was sitting on my sofa and I saw this spider walk across my living room. It looks to me that it could be a brown recluse. Or maybe a trap door spider?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Signature: -John in Charleston, SC

Male Southern House Spider

Dear John,
This does appear to be a Brown Recluse Spider, and the large pedipalps indicate this is a male, similar to the one pictured in this BugGuide posting.

Correction:  Male Southern House Spider
Thanks to Catherine Scott and Sean McCann for writing in with comments correcting our identification of this male Southern House Spider.

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

Subject:  Spider named Aragog
Geographic location of the bug:  Southern California
Date: 01/07/2018
Time: 01:27 PM EDT
I can’t find a thing on this lovely ‘lady’. My son purchased an old Airstream Trailer, drove it home (apx 30 miles) and saw her trying to climb up one of the tires the next morning. We have no clue as to ‘where ‘ she actually came from. We live in the mountains where it gets very cold and my concern for her was if she was from ‘down the hill’ it was far too cold for her up here. She is now set up in a quite comfy critter keeper. I have 2 Tarantula Females that I have owned for 20+ years now. What’s another spider to care for! Can you please tell me what she is? We have freaked out about a ‘Recluse’ but she has built a ‘Widow’ type web into her little tree branch in her keeper. She does not appear aggressive or fast moving whatsoever. I’m actually stumped. She’s larger than a quarter.  Spread out I’d say half dollar coin sized. She’s big! We are now calling her Aragog. Thanks.
How you want your letter signed:  Keeper of T’s

Female Southern  House Spider

Dear Keeper of T’s,
We are posting your Spider images prior to identification.  It appears that the eyes on this individual are not very well developed, indicating is most likely spends its time in low light situations and also that it does not depend upon eyesight to hunt.  We will do additional research and then get back to you.  Perhaps one of our readers will have an idea how to classify your Spider.

Female Southern House Spider

Update:  Female Southern House Spider
Thanks to Cesar Crash who wrote in that this is a female Southern House Spider, a species pictured on BugGuide.

Goodness Gracious Thank You! Now I shall provide a bit more Branchery for webbing! hehe
ŞĦĄŔŐŊ

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Subject:  Guatemalan Fellow
Geographic location of the bug:  Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
Your letter to the bugman:  Greetings Bugman!
In 2016 my husband and I took a vacation in the breathtakingly beautiful Central American country of Guatemala. This was during the rainy season, approximately mid May.
We stayed at a hotel in the provincial area of Panajachel, right on Lago De Atitlan. The hotel itself was spectacular, with many open areas and semi-outdoor corridors.
One day I stumbled upon this handsome fellow hanging out about 2.5 feet up a stucco wall.
Any idea what he is? I hope he’s a juvenile tarantula, but we were a good distance away from Tikal (where most tarantula’s are found in the country), and I don’t suspect there are many arboreal species of tarantula in Guatemala anyway (and I assume this would be an arboreal fellow, hanging out on a wall.)
Any ideas?
How you want your letter signed:  Liz

Female Southern House Spider

Dear Liz,
This looks to us like a female Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis.  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.”  According to SpiderID:  “Kukulcania hibernalis (Southern House Spider) has been sighted in the following countries: Argentina, United States.  Kukulcania hibernalis has also been sighted in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.”  Spiders tend to ignore international borders, so we suspect if they are found in the U.S. and Argentina, they are likely occurring in some countries between them as well.  We would not discount that this might be a related species in the genus.  According to Encyclopedia of Life:  “The synanthropic Southern House Spider (Kukulcania hibernalis) is found in the southeastern United States (Bradley 2013), but is also widespread in South America (Brescovit and Santos 2013).”

Hi Daniel,
Very good! Thank you so much for solving this two-year-long mystery.
Liz

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Subject: What’s this spider
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains California
November 7, 2016 8:51 am
I was out I was out getting silverfish for my blue belly lizards. And underneath one of the two by fours on the deck was this pretty large spider. which I have never seen in my 50 years living here. I like spiders because they eat mosquitoes and other nasy pests. so can you help me identify it?
Signature: Fixitwill

Possibly Female Crevice Weaver Spider

Dear Fixitwill,
Though your image lack critical clarity, we believe this might be a female Crevice Weaver Spider in the genus Kuculcania.  See BugGuide for some images.

Wow thank you so much for your time!! It was hard to get a good picture because it kept moving around on me.

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

Subject:  Large Spider scurries from under the recycle bin!
Location:  Mount Washington, Los Angeles, California
December 13, 2016 11:30 AM
Alas, we did not have a camera handy when we made this exciting sighting of a reddish colored, male Southern House Spider which is reported from Los Angeles according to BugGuide.  We had to take a close look to ensure this was not a Recluse Spider.

Southern House Spider (from our archives)

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