New Hampshire Spiders - Green Nature

Zygiella x-notata

The cool, northern climate means the traditional season for New Hampshire spiders runs from late spring to early fall.

Spider enthusiasts almost always need to wait until mid-summer to explore spider diversity in the White Mountains. Lower lying towns and larger residential areas such as Manchester and Nashua tend to share the same spider species. In fact, all New England provides suitable habitat for the New Hampshire spiders.

Currently an internet search for a comprehensive checklist of New Hampshire spiders comes up empty. Maine’s current checklist of 677 spiders divided into 33 families, provides a good foundation for thinking about the topic.

The two most common types of spiders in terms of species numbers are the Dwarf/Sheetweb spiders and the Jumping Spiders. Dwarf and Sheetweb spiders build messy webs around the shrubs. Their diminutive size, most around the 1/16 of an inch, means that their webs are more visible than the spiders.

On the other hand, many jumping spiders often grow around one quarter of an inch, and they pop up and down around the yard constantly.

This introduction to New Hampshire spiders focuses on the more common spiders found in residential areas around the state.

Orb Weaving Spiders

There’s around one hundred orb weaving spider species, many of them regionally situated. Some of the species come in a range of colors.

Here’s a few of the more common species with a wider geographical range. See this page for more detail.

Yellow writing spider bottom view

Yellow Writing Spider bottom view

Yellow writing spider top view

Yellow Writing Spider top view

Banded Writing Spider

Cross Orb Weaving Spider

nordmanni

Araneus nordmanni

trash-line-orbweaver

Trashline Orb Weaver

Gray Cross Spider

Larinioides patagiatus

Larinioides patagiatus orange shade

Larinioides patagiatus

Larinioides patagiatus brown shade

Larinioides patagiatus bottom view

Larinioides patagiatus bottom

Sleeping Orb Weaving Spider

long-jawed

Long-jawed Orb Weaver

long-jawed-side

Long-jawed Orb Weaver side view

Crab Spiders

Flower Crab Spider

It’s sometimes difficult to identify Crab Spiders using body color. Body hair and eye configuration can help. Here’s a few examples.

Flower Crab Spider yellow

northern-crab-spider-yellow-red

Yellow and Red Northern Crab Spider

Northern Crab Spider white

Northern Crab Spider yellow

Swift Crab Spider

Slender Crab Spider

Ground Crab Spider

Jumping Spiders

Bold Jumping Spider

A couple hundred jumping spider species inhabit residential areas, many with limited ranges. Body color can change over the course of time, as with the species presented here. See Jumping Spiders for more complete information.

Bold Jumping Spider