Kansas Spiders: Pictures and Identification Guide

Most discussions of Kansas Spiders start with the Brown Recluse spider.

No doubt about it, Brown Recluse spiders are common in Kansas. One Kansas State researcher went as far as saying during the spring through fall, they are probably in every house in Kansas.

No doubt about it, the bite of a Brown Recluse is cause for medical concern. Their venom contains hemotoxin, same as a rattlesnake. Bites cause tissue degeneration. fortunately, the probability of death is very low.

At issue is how to insure that concern about Brown Recluse does not translate into a state with residents paralyzed by fear of spiders.

On a yearly basis, local media reminds residents it is Brown Recluse season, and to keep the name Recluse at the top of their minds. Despite the widespread presence of the spider, it really, really, really does not want to engage with humans.

Consider the following research article An Infestation of 2,055 Brown Recluse Spiders and No Envenomations in a Kansas Home begins:

During a 6-mo period, 2,055 brown recluse spiders, Loxosceles reclusa Gertsch and Mulaik, were collected in a 19th-century-built, currently occupied home in Lenexa, KS. We conservatively estimate that at least 400 of these spiders were large enough to cause envenomation. Additional collections from more typically infested homes in Missouri and Oklahoma in 45 and 30 brown recluse spiders, respectively. Despite these infestations, no envenomations of the inhabitants of these three homes occurred.

Holy Guacamole Batman!

Keeping an eye out for Brown Recluse in the home and checking clothes, socks and shoes before putting them on appears to be the best way to stay safe. Brown Recluse really, really, really do not want to engage with humans.

As for other Kansas spiders, consider them beneficial creatures that help with pest management in the home and garden.

The small gallery of spider pictures that follows covers a couple dozen of the most common home and garden spiders.

Visitors interested in addition spider identification tips are invited to press the spiders button. It leads to articles with larger pictures and more detailed information covering one hundred spider species.

Tallgrass Prairie Spiders: Kansas

Tallgrass Prairie restoration efforts over the past couple of decades spurred ecosystem research that includes spider surveys. During the initial restoration phase, researchers suggested that spider diversity and density served as an indicator of relative prairie health. Spiders as predators help maintain an ecosystem balance of the prairie by preying on many of the leaf consuming anthropoids that also inhabit the prairie.

The checklist of Tallgrass Prairie spiders was created using the species presented in three separate research projects covering three separate tallgrass areas.

The Reed publication, Reed, Catherine. List of Insect Species which May Be Tallgrass Prairie Specialists Final Report to the USFWS Cooperating Agencies. July 1, 1996. , the earliest list, consisted of thirty five species that the author broadly labeled “may be prairie specialist”. It was derived from a literature review of the literature that included mentions of spiders in both the north and south tallgrass regions.

Jesús E. Gómez, Jenny Lohmiller and Anthony Joern 2016. Importance of vegetation structure to the assembly of an aerial web-building spider community in North American open grassland. Journal of Arachnology, 44(1): 28-35.
Spider survey at Flint Hills documented about one hundred different species collected over a three year time span using a vacuuming method.

Richard A. Bradley, Shauna L. Price, William L. Hickman, Robert A. Klips. Passive Re-colonization of the Spider Assemblage on an Ohio Restored Tall Grass Prairie Compared to Nearby Remnant Prairies and Old Fields. The Ohio Journal of Science. Vol. 120 No. 2 (2020)

Using both pit trap and sweeping capture methods, the authors documented 94 species. The author also notes, “in a separate investigation at the MCP site, a total of 1,646 individuals representing 143 species have been collected between 1988 and 2006 (unpublished data)”.

The large number of species in the checklist is more a function of differences in research questions and methodology than differences in spider species found in northern versus southern tallgrass prairies.

For example, the large number of ground spiders and wolf spiders documented in the Ohio study was a direct result of their pit trap methodology. Placing traps in the ground collects a diverse range of ground based spiders. The Flint Hills study focused on habitat diversity and the presence of orb weaving spiders. Under that research plan the authors orbweaving list of over two dozen species would be expected to surpass a study without such an emphasis.

A quick check of Bugguide also shows similar ranges for many of the orb weaving spiders. Taken together, the compiled checklist shows fairly robust spider diversity.

Tallgrass Prairie Spiders: Orb Weavers

Black-spotted Orbweaver

Black and Yellow Garden Spider

Lined Orbweaver with a nice view of the spider and stabilimentum

Marbled Orb weaver

Orchard Orb Weaver

Silver Long-Jawed Orb Weaver

Orb Weavers

Crab Spiders

The large number of species in the crab spider family Thomisidae along wide spread ranges for a subset of those species makes for a nice diversity of crab spiders in the Tallgrass Prairie ecosystem.

Synema parvulum

Green Crab Spider

Jumping Spiders

Phidippus cardinalis

Bold Jumper

Zebra Jumper

Phidippus pius female

Male Phidippus pius

Male White-cheeked Jumping spider ( Pelegrina proterva)

Female White-cheeked jumping spider. Note the lighter shade of the body.

Phidippus Clarus

Colonus peuperus

Colonus sylvanus

Jumping Spiders
Colonus puerperus
Colonus sylvanus
Eris aurantia
Eris flava
Habrocestum pulex
Habronattus calcaratus
Habronattus coecatus
Habronattus mexicanus
Habronattus rutherfordi
Habronattus tranquilus group
Hentzia mitrata
Hentzia palmarum
Maevia inclemens
Marpissa formosa
Marpissa lineata
Marpissa obtusa
Marpissa pikei
Metaphidippus arizonensis
Myrmarachne formicaria
Neon nellii
Paraphidippus aurantius?
Pelegrina galathea
Pelegrina proterva
[/su_column]

[/su_row]

Wolf Spiders

Wetland Giant Wolf Spider ( Hogna helluo )

Lanceolate Wolf Spider

Lynx Spiders

Western Lynx Spider (Oxyopes scalaris ) pictured. Also includes Striped Lynx spider.