Spiders central covers many types of spiders that people cross paths with on a daily basis. They are often found in homes, gardens and lawns across North America.
Formally spider types get arranged according to families. Less formally, spider types are often categorized according to their hunting methods. Some spiders use webs to trap prey. Some spiders hunt prey in their territory. Both formal and informal ways of thinking about spiders help with spider identification.
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Common Home and Garden Spiders
Using the widest of definitions, all types of spiders found within a residential dwelling might rightly be placed in the common home and garden spiders category. Most people are familiar with the orb weavers and jumping spiders.
They are covered in more detail.
Squeamishness might be appropriate in discussions of house spiders. One spider species, the Giant House Spider, certainly fits, because it can grow up to four inches from leg to leg.
The brown recluse spider, a resident of many Southeast and Midwest states, makes the human population in these areas wary of any brown spider they come across.
While they come in a variety of shades of brown, the violin marking on the cephalothorax serves as the best field identification clue. Additionally, the legs do not have bands.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):
The brown recluse spider cannot bite humans without some form of counter pressure, for example, through unintentional contact that traps the spider against the skin. Bites may cause a stinging sensation with localized pain. A small white blister usually develops at the site of the bite. The venom of a brown recluse can cause a severe lesion by destroying skin tissue (skin necrosis). This skin lesion will require professional medical attention.
Medical professions suggest that individuals concerned about the possibility of Brown Recluse bites, should attempt to capture the spider and bring it with them when they seek medical attention. Brown Recluse bites are rare. When they do occur, an article in the Annals of Emergency Medicine notes,
“In our series, long-term outcome after brown recluse spider bite was good. Serious complications were rare, as was the need for skin grafting. Because the vast majority of bites heal with supportive care alone, aggressive medical therapy does not appear warranted.”
Black widow spiders or widow spiders also fit the spiders of medical importance in the United States. The bite of females contains a neurotoxin that can cause severe health problems.
Often associated with residential areas, they normally don’t wander indoors. Any corner of a wood pile, basement or porch provides sufficient space for the female to build a tangled looking, untidy web.
The traditional description of female widows begins and ends with their dark black bodies and red hour glass marking on the underside of the abdomen.
The Yellow Sac Spider or Longlegged Sac Spider fits one rung below the poisonous spiders category that is often reserved for the Black Widow, Hobo Spider and Brown Recluse spider.
Small in stature (less than one inch in length), their bite is known to cause immediate severe pain, followed by redness, swelling and itching. Current medical literature suggests necrosis is not a symptom of yellow sac spider bites. So, while their bites may be nasty, they are not known to produce medical complications.
Two different species live in the United States. Both species share similar physical characteristics which are visible in the top picture. The body is a light color with little marking other than a light stripe on the abdomen and the front pair of legs are longer than the other three pair of legs.
Cellar Spiders rightly belong in the common house spiders category. Their long legs makes the nick-name daddy long legs appropriate. However, their two body parts puts them in the spider category rather than the Opilione category of another daddy long legs species. The picture shows a close-up view of the cellar spider’s two body parts.
While cellar spiders might be considered an eyesore, they are harmless.
Often the Steatoda species acquire the nickname false widow. The name false widow comes from the spider’s looks. From a distance, the body often appears dark, like the black widow spider. The picture shows a less common species, Steatoda Grossa. With the legs extended, it measures approximately and inch and one-quarter in length.
Their bites are known to cause pain and discomfort for a small portion of the population, however for most people, their bite produces no side effects.
Less well known is the fact that many cobweb spiders, including widow spiders, also find a home in the great outdoors.
The picture shows Enoplongnatha ovata. Note how the first set of legs are the longest. That’s another physical characteristic shared by members of the family.
Grass spiders or funnel web spiders occasionally wander into houses during cool weather. Looking at their tail end represents one general funnel web identification rule of thumb. Many species have extended spinnerets and this differentiates them from wolf spiders.
Wolf spiders walk, or more often run, along the ground and among rocks and leaf piles of the United States searching out prey.
Identifying wolf spiders with pictures is almost a non-starter because most of the approximately two hundred and forty wolf spider species look very similar. Their looks can also change over time.
For example, the eighty or so thin-legged wolf spiders, the most common group of wolf spiders, might be identified by the presence of thin legs. Nonetheless, thin legs are also a physical trait of wolf spiders in the genus Acantholycosa. The difference between the two groups is the number of tibial spines, or hair like protrusions from the tibia on the first leg.
Size might help with identification of some wolf spiders. Species in the Hogna and Tigrosa genera, especially the females, have bodies between three-quarters of an inch and one and one-half inches.
They are the largest of the wolf spider species. The Carolina Wolf Spider ranks as the largest of the Hogna species. In 1990 the South Carolina designated the Carolina Wolf Spider as the official state spider.
The picture shows an eye pattern of four eyes on the bottom row and two rows of two eyes each. That’s they typical eye pattern for wolf spiders.
Ground spiders come in a variety of families, shapes and colors. Three families
- Gnaphosidae
- Corinnidae
- Thomisidae
They hide under rocks and logs during the day and hunt primarily at night. Most of the species are dark-colored with relatively long legs.
One species, the Parson Spider, is common in houses, and adults of this species may be found at any time of the year. The picture shows an Eastern Parson’s spider.
This picture shows a Western Parson’s spider.
Here’s Sergiolus columbianus, a common West Coast species.
West Coast residents can often find a Mouse Spider (Scotophaeus blackwalli) crawling on a wall. They are a bit larger than the more wide ranging ground spider species, and they are also European imports that found their niche in West Coast homes.
Depending on the source, the family Thomisidae consists of around one hundred and thirty species, divided into at least ten genera. Because their range extends across the entire United States, species from four of the genera:
- Mecaphesa – Hairy Crab Spiders
- Misumena – Flower Crab Spiders
- Misumenoides – White-banded Crab Spiders
- Misumessus – Green Crab Spider
Many individual flower crab spiders across the four families share a similar body color pattern, i.e., white or yellow bodies with red stripes or green stripes. Formally, crab spider identification begins by noting various physical characteristics, primarily eye patterns.
The picture shows the very common Goldenrod Crab Spider. Normally when viewed from the front and top angle, all eight eyes will show up.
Green Crab Spiders are fairly common east of the Rocky Mountains.
While eye patterns matter, the best initial field identification guide for the White-banded Crab Spider is to look below the eyes. Typically the presence of a white band, as shown in the picture, is clearly seen.
With the exception of most of New England, this is another common spider east of the Rocky Mountains.
While some two dozen hairy crab spider species live in the United States. the majority of species live in warmer climates. They somewhat resemble the white banded crab spiders, however their bodies are hairy.
Hairy crab spider in the Xysticus genus.
Brown or dark, patterned bodies also characterizes a couple dozen crab spider species living around the home and garden.
Finally, the small size an dull color of this unknown ground Crab Spider sitting on some leaf litter, demonstrates an additional identification problem If it’s a juvenile, the body color and pattern might change over time.
Synema parvulum also fits the drab body pattern of the previous species. The distinct darkening of the end of the abdomen makes it an easy to Southeast and Mid-Atlantic species.
Running Crab spiders, an additional group of crab spiders, counts about one hundred species in the United States.
Over one-half of the Running Crab spiders belongs to the genus Philodromus. There’s a couple of species in most areas. The picture shows Philodromus dispar, a West Coast species that was imported from Europe. Hardy species, they often overwinter, and can be found found sunning on a leaf from February through November.
The Metallic Crab Spider might be the most common species in both the Mid-Atlantic and neighboring Midwest states.
Males have the dark body. Females have the lighter shaded body.
Slender crab spiders, another group, also range across most of the United States. The long, thin body explains the slender part of the common name. They often bask on leaves or flower petals.
It looks appropriate to nickname the seven Thanatus crab spiders Diamond-backed spiders.
Keep an eye on low growing plants and bushes and you’re likely to find a Lynx spider. They come in two different forms. One genera (Peucetia) and two species represent the green form, the more common subtropical form.
Their unmistakable look makes for easy identification. Both species are quite common from coast to coast along the southern areas of the United States.
A few species of the brown form of Lynx spiders are common in lawns and gardens a bit further north. The Western Lynx spider also prefers to spend the day on low growing plants and bushes. Its small size means it could easily be mistaken for a jumping spider.
The Striped Lynx range extends across most of the United States.
Nursery Web spiders, get their name from their child rearing practices. Nursery web spiders and wolf spiders often look similar, and their identification can be confusing. While females of both species carry egg sacs, the female wolf spider carries her egg sac on the back of the abdomen, attached to the spinnerets. When the spiderlings hatch they piggyback on the mother until they are ready to go it alone.
Fishing spiders, engineering marvels as well as a feared predators, rely on neither a ground nor a web based hunting strategy. Rather, they site near water, watching for appropriate prey (insects, minnows etc., al). Once spotted, the spider darts out onto the water to grab the prey. They can literally swim, or as some prefer, walk on water, to reach it.
The spider’s larger than average size, stripes and spots makes for easy field identification.
Pisauridae species often grow to a fairly large size, with the body reaching one inch in length, or more. The addition of the legs can add another inch or so to the spider’s total length.
Fairly common and mostly unseen describes the group of spiders called Mygalomorph spiders.
Tarantulas are the best known of the Mygalomorph spiders in the United States. Technically all Mygalomorphs share a common lung system, and recent genetic research and field work continues to shine a light on their other physical similarities and differences.
Most Trapdoor spiders live silk filled burrows. The silk extends outward in some manner to trap prey. Family names for the most common species explain their hunting method.
Four of the families:
- Folding-door Spiders (Antrodiaetidae) East and West
- Purseweb Spiders (Atypidae) Eastern
- Wafer-lid trapdoor spiders (Euctenizidae) Southern
- Cork-lid trapdoor spiders (Halonoproctidae) Southern
While generally common spiders, living in burrows makes them some of the most difficult spiders to find. Males tend to wander out of the burrow during mating season. Sometimes people can find them in the garden after a heavy rain floods out the burrow, or preparing the soil disturbs the burrow.
The picture shows a Cork-lid Trapdoor spider.
Fun Fact: It’s also possible to think of trapdoor spiders as celebrity spiders. Based on the name, can you guess which trapdoor spider species they were named after?
- Aptostichus angelinajolie
- Aptostichus stephencolberti
- Aptostichus pennjillettei
- Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi