New York Spiders: Pictures and Identification Help

New York’s diverse geography, from highly urban to fields, forests and mountains, makes for diversity among New York spiders.

While environmental factors influence the types of spiders found in New York, quick reflection on the fact that most New York back yards, whether in the New York city area or in the suburbs of Albany, Buffalo, Rochester or any other urban or suburban area, share very similar environments. Green grass, shrubs and trees make a nice habitat for many New York spiders that fall under the general heading home and garden spiders.

Except for the northern border, the state’s temperate climate means outdoor spider season lasts from early spring through late fall. Indoor spider season runs year round for some species.

In many instances, house spider management can be as easy as trimming the shrubs and tree branches around the yard to insure they do not touch the sides of the house. Many spiders found in the house tend to move from branches to walls to crevices in the walls and windows. Speaking of walls, take a look at the walls of your house or apartment building and chances are you will see the Zebra Jumping spider. They are small spiders that live on walls and other outdoor structures. The video at the top of the page shows an enlarged version.

picture of a Common House spider, part of the New York spiders collection

Cobweb spiders often define the common house spider category. New York homes often host the Triangulate House Spider and the Common House spider (Parasteatoda-tepidariorum), pictured, A couple of additional Stedota species go by the name False Widow spiders and they often wander indoors.

Grass spiders also known as funnel weavers, often wander inside the house. Outside the house, early morning dew often brings out their funnel webs in the yard. Tegenaria domestica, better known as a barn funnel weaver or domestic house spiders frequent indoor locations. Look for them especially in basement corners. Basements or cellars are also prime territory for the common cellar spider species.

Additional information on these types of spiders can be found by pressing the spiders button.

Two additional groups of spiders, Orb Weavers and Jumping Spiders, often catch the average New Yorker’s eyes, along with the lens of the camera or cell phone. Initial checklists, including spider pictures, are presented below.

Checklist of New York Spiders: Orb Weavers


picture of a Humpbacked Orbweaver, Eustala anastera, part of the New York spiders collection
The following checklist of New York Spiders in the Orb Weaving family is preliminary. It is based on fifteen years of member contributions to Bugguide.

The list was created by searching Bugguide for New York spiders in the Orb Weavers Family (Araneidae). A total of 605 results over a fifteen year time span appeared. The results were placed on a spreadsheet that was then was sorted for duplicate species and genus only listings.

Results were the documenting of 39 Orb Weaving spider species in New York covering 15 genera.

One-third or 13 species were in genus Araneus. They are colorful orb weavers with distinct body patterns that often build webs in the back yard. The Humpbacked Orbweaver (Eustala anastera) is pictured at the top of the section.

picture of a yellow garden spider, New York spiders
Both members of the Argiope genus, with the common name writing spiders also make the New York spiders list. Because of the large size, they are easy to notice sitting in their webs. Neither of them poses a health problem for people. The picture shows the yellow garden spider.

picture of a Banded Garden Spider
Here’s the banded garden spider. The stripes across the abdomen make it easy to differentiate from the yellow garden spider.

New York Spiders
picture of a Six Spotted Orbweaver spider
Six Spotted Orbweaver

picture of a Cross Orbweaver spider
Cross Orbweaver

picture of a Marbled Orbweaver spider
Marbled Orbweaver

picture of a Shamrock Orbweaver spider
Shamrock Orbweaver

Acacesia hamata
Acanthepeira stellata (Starbellied Orbweaver)
Araneus bicentenarius (Giant Lichen Orbweaver)
Araneus bonsallae
Araneus cingulatus
Araneus iviei
Araneus miniatus
Araneus nordmanni
Araneus pegnia
Araneus pratensis
Araneus saevus
Araneus thaddeus (Lattice Orbweaver)
Cyclosa conica
Cyclosa turbinata
Eustala cepina

New York Orbweavers
picture of a Spotted Orbweaver spider, neoscona-domiciliorum
Spotted Orbweaver (Neoscona domiciliorum)

picture of a Hentz Orbweaverspider
Hentz Orbweaver (Neoscona)

picture of an Arabesque Orbweaver spider with a darker body
Arabesque Orbweaver

picture of an Arrowshaped Micrathena spider
Arrowshaped micrathena Spider

Gea heptagon
Hypsosinga pygmaea
Larinioides cornutus (Furrow Orbweaver)
Larinioides patagiatus
Larinioides sclopetarius (Gray Cross Spider)
Mangora gibberosa (Lined Orbweaver)
Mangora maculata
Mangora spiculata
Mastophora bisaccata
Mastophora hutchinsoni
Mastophora phrynosoma
Mecynogea lemniscata (Basilica Orbweaver)
Micrathena gracilis (Spined Micrathena)

Checklist: Jumping Spiders


picture of a Jumping spider, Hentzia palmarum
Interestingly, a similar search on the Jumping Spiders of New York also took place, with 628 results gathered and placed on a spreadsheet.

After sorting for duplicates and genus only identifications, a total of 38 species divided into 24 genera were recorded. The list follows, including ten species with a picture.

The results follow a general spider identification trend witnessed by many researchers. While jumping spiders rank as one of the top two spider families in terms of total species, their small size and often dull appearance of the females makes for difficult field identification.

The picture at the top of the section shows Hentzia plamarun.

Jumping Spiders
picture of a Bold Jumping Spider
Bold Jumping Spider

picture of a Jumping Spider, Phidippus Clarus
Phidippus Clarus Jumping Spider

picture of a Jumping Spider, Phidippus princeps
Phidippus princeps Jumping Spider

picture of a Golden Jumping Spider, Paraphidippus aurantius
Golden Jumping Spider

picture of a Jumping Spider, Bronze Jumper
Bronze Jumping Spider (Eris militaris)

Myrmarachne formicaria
Naphrys pulex
Neon nelli
Phidippus purpuratus
Phidippus whitmani
Pseudeuophrys erratica
Salticus scenicus (Zebra Jumper)
Sitticus fasciger
Synemosyna formica
Talavera minuta
Tutelina harti
Tutelina similis
Zygoballus nervosus
Zygoballus rufipes (Hammerjawed Jumper)

Jumping Spiders
picture of a Jumping Spider, (Platycryptus undatus)
Tan Jumping Spider

picture of a Thin-spined Jumping Spider, (Tutelina elegans)
Thin-spined Jumping Spider

picture of a White-cheeked Jumping Spider, (Pelegrina proterva)
White-cheeked Jumping Spider (Pelegrina proterva)

picture of a Jumping Spider,
Peppered Jumping Spider (Pelegrina galathea)

picture of a Jumping Spider, (Hentzia mitrata)
White-jawed Jumping Spider (Hentzia mitrata)

Bryantae variation
Colonus sylvanus
Eris floridana
Evarcha hoyi
Habronattus borealis
Habronattus calcaratus maddisoni
Habronattus coecatus
Habronattus decorus
Hakka himeshimensis
Heliophanus kochii
Maevia inclemens (Dimorphic Jumper)
Marpissa formosa
Marpissa pikei (Pike Slender Jumper)

picture of Goldendrod Crab Spider, New York spiders
New Yorkers from all walks of life can also easily recognize the crab spiders that populate residential areas around the state. Often the small, colorful group of crab spiders in the Thomisidae family get recognized first.

The Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia), the sole representative of the genera, lives primarily in the northern half of the United States. From a front views, all eight eyes will show up.

picture of a ground crab spider in New York
Ground Crab Spiders represents the other half of the Thomisidae crab spider family. Identifying them to the species level presents an even greater challenge than identifying their more colorful relatives. Generally they are a bit smaller in size and share the initial field identification clues of having dull brown bodies. less distinct markings on the body. Experts often suggest using physical characteristics such as leg hairs and body shape as more definitive identification clues than body color and patterns.

Fortunately, finding them is easier than species identification. They tend to inhabit the leaf litter area around the ground and/or around the bark of trees. The large number of species means that different areas can easily host more than one species.