Spined Micrathena

Posted on January 17, 2016 by tspuckler

If you’ve ever walked through a spider web in the woods, chances are it was a micrathena’s web. As an added “bonus” they tend to make their webs at face level.

This is a small species, about 1/2 inch long, with a chunky abdomen with ten spines on it. The abdomen can vary in color, but is usually it is whitish, yellow, or brownish-black. Only female Spined Micrathenas build webs. Male are about half the size of females. They only have a couple of spines and a much flatter abdomen.

To trap prey, this spider builgs her web between shrubs or small trees, three to seven feet off the ground. Insects that try to fly in between the trees don’t see the web and get caught.

The female Spined Micrathena eats her web each evening and constructs a new web the following morning. I had one that is living in my front yard this past Summer, and she built each web in the same spot.

In the daytime the spider hangs out in the center of her web, with her head pointing down. As soon as she feels the vibrations of prey trapped in her web, she runs to bite it. These spiders are slow and clums and many insects escape before they are caught.

Male Spined Micrathenas don’t build webs, though they do weave a “mating thread.” The male finds a female’s web, and weaves his mating thread onto her web. When he’s ready, he quickly runs out and mates with her. Males often do not survive the encounter.

This is a small, yet very cool spider that I usually enjoy coming across (unless I walk face-first into one of their webs).

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Sowbug Killer

Posted on July 18, 2015 by tspuckler

Even for someone who likes “creepy crawlies” this spider, also known as a Woodlouse Hunter, isn’t particularly attractive. This spider’s favorite meal is the sowbug, also known as pill bug, wood louse, or roly poly, depending on where you live. They are easy to identify as they typically have a red head and legs and ivory abdomen. Females are almost twice as large as males.

This spider is an active hunter, but it does have a lair. Inside its hideout, the remains of previous meals can often be found. The Sowbug Killer not form webs to catch its food. Instead, it finds a prey item and uses its giant jaws to stab it in an ambush attack. Though scary looking, spider is not aggressive, and its venom isn’t particularly potent.

I tend to find them under rocks, flower pots and logs – all places where sowbugs regularly occur. They are equally at home in urban, suburban and rural areas as are their favorite prey item (sow bugs). Sowbug Killers don’t mind living close to humans and are found mainly in urban gardens, fields and parks.

They take about 18 months to mature and then may survive an additional year or two. Aside from looking a freeakishly spooky, this creature goes about doing exactly what it’s name implies – killing sowbugs.

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Hacklemesh Weaver

Posted on March 7, 2015 by tspuckler

Sometimes I find “wildlife” in my house, like this creature that turned up in my Living Room this week. Hacklemesh Weavers can live through the Winter and therefore are often found in households during cold weather.

Outside, their irregular looking webs can be seen in bark and woodpiles and often have roughly the form of a funnel. This species is common in and around homes, but is also found living under rocks, logs and leaf litter. It prefers dark, relatively humid places.

It is typical for this creature to have chevron-like lighter areas on its abdomen. Its legs are reddish to dark brown. It has eight eyes of relatively similar size, arranged in two horizontal rows of four.

The Hacklemesh Weaver makes a special kind of silk. Instead of sticky strands, the silk is made of fine, woolly fibers that can entangle even the smallest prey. The spider feels the vibrations from the struggling victim and rushes out to capture it.

In England, this arachnid is sometimes called the “Old Churchman” because it can be seen scurrying around on the walls and pews of old churches before rain storms.

Silk-spinning spiders have been around for roughly 400 million years, and they’ve made good use of their time. Today, they occupy just about every habitable region of the Earth…as well as my house.

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House Spider

Posted on January 18, 2015 by tspuckler

These creatures occur throughout the world and have derived their name from their presence inside human dwellings. A number of species are classified as “house spiders,” although the Common House Spider is the most recognized. These arachnids are also sometimes referred to as American House Spiders.

House Spiders are typically brown or gray in color, with darker chevron markings along their bodies. Their legs are yellow, with rings at the end of each segment. Adult females are considerably larger than males.

Their presence is typically characterized by the formation of cobwebs; irregularly shaped structures that can be located in various places within a home, including windows, ceiling corners and above or beneath fixtures.

The abundance of empty webs is caused by the House Spider’s propensity to construct webs in various locations until it finds the most suitable place to catch prey. Unlike some other spider species, House Spiders may choose to cohabitate and mate numerous times. Females deposit as many as 250 eggs into a sac of silk. These sacs are often brown in color and are flask-like in shape. An individual spider can produce over a dozen egg sacs in her lifetime.

After hatching, air currents disperse surviving spiderlings on threads of silk. This process, known as ballooning, allows spiders to populate areas far from where they were hatched. Adult specimens may survive for more than a year.

This is one of the most commonly encountered cobweb spiders in urban areas, and can be found in almost every garage, barn, and attic. It is harmless, and it catches and eats flies, mosquitoes, and other pests that enter buildings.

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Orchard Orb Weaver

Posted on November 18, 2014 by tspuckler

These small, but colorful spiders make circular webs often positioned horizontally (rather than vertically, like most orb weavers) the ground. They tend to hang out in the middle of their web.

Orchard Orb Weavers can be variably colored with silver, green, yellow, red and blue. They have long and slender legs. These creatures provide a valuable service to humans by eating small insects like flies and mosquitos.

Although this one was photographed in my yard, I have often seen them in low bushes in damp woodlands. They usually build their small webs in low vegetation and occasionally in small trees.

They can be somewhat common in wooded areas with dense undergrowth, but they are not easily noticed because of their habit of quickly dropping into the leaf litter when disturbed. Its scientific nomenclature has the distinction of being only spider name created by Charles Darwin himself. Its species name, venusta, is Latin for “charming, elegant, or beautiful.”

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Bold Jumper

Posted on July 8, 2014 by tspuckler

Jumping spiders are one the most charismatic arachnids around and during the warmer months I often seen them on my house and on the deck. They tend to be inquisitive and seemingly without fear. When photographing this one, it would typically turn to follow my movements.

While most of their coloration is black and white, Bold Jumpers also have beautiful emerald green fang bases. They also have a face which looks like a monkey’s.

Rather than building webs, these spiders hunt prey visually (their large, forward-facing eyes, give them very good stereoscopic vision), stalking their insect victims. Watching one hunt down its food is not unlike watching a cat zero in on its prey. They can move quite quickly and are capable of amazing leaps. Bold Jumpers have been known to jump from 10 to 50 times their body length.

Although these active hunters not build webs to catch food, they do use webbing to wrap their eggs in or to construct a hideout. They also use their spider silk as a “lifeline” when jumping after prey. If a Bold Jumper comes up short of its target, the line catches the spider and it quickly retreats back to its original hunting spot.

Jumping spiders tend to be small, usually 1/2-3/4 of an inch. Male Bold Jumpers have “eyebrows,” or tufts of hairs over their eyes. This species has some of the best vision of all spiders. They have eight eyes. Four big eyes are located on the spider’s face. The other four are on top of the head. This fine arachnid is also known as the Daring Jumping Spider.

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Cellar Spider

Posted on January 28, 2014 by tspuckler

Its habit of living on the ceilings of rooms, caves, garages or cellars gives rise to one of the common names for this arachnid. It is easy to identify, because Cellar Spiders typically have extremely long and skinny legs with small bodies. Cellar Spiders are considered beneficial in some parts of the world because they kill and eat other spiders, including species that are venomous to humans.

Originally from the subtropics, they are not native to the United States, but are quite familiar to many. I often encounter them in my basement or garage. They are unable to survive in cold weather and consequently are restricted to (heated) houses in some parts of their range. One species, Pholcus phalangioides, is common in buildings worldwide.

This is the only spider species described by the Swiss entomologist Johann Kaspar Füssli, who first recorded it for science in 1775. Confusion often arises over another one if its common names, because “daddy longlegs” is also applied to an unrelated arthropod – the harvestman.

An unusual behavior of theirs is that these spiders will rapidly vibrate in a circular fashion in their web if threatened, making them difficult to see. Although they look delicate, they can easily catch and eat other spiders (even those much larger than themselves) and insects.

A Cellar Spider doesn’t move around very much; it usually stays in its web. It spends most of its life hanging upside down and waiting for prey. The web is usually a very messy cobweb structure.

When food is scarce, this creature may abandon its web and find the web of another spider. It will then tap on the web, mimicking a trapped insect. When the owner of the web comes to catch its “prey,” the Cellar Spider captures and eats it.

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Yellow Sac Spider

Posted on December 14, 2013 by tspuckler

Normally these are outdoor spiders, but sac spiders often invade structures (like my house). Their numbers increase significantly in the Autumn when the weather turns cool and their food supply disappears.

If there is food available, sac spiders can become established indoors. At night they actively search for small insects. When hunting, they run quickly while waving their forelegs in front of them. Their front legs are longer than their other three pairs of legs.

Indoors, they can be observed on walls and ceilings, but they quickly drop to the floor and seek cover when disturbed. Yellow Sac Spiders construct a silken tube or sac in a protected area, such as within a leaf, under a log, or at the junction of a wall and ceiling.

They use this sac as their daytime retreat; this is how the sac spider gets its name. These spiders do not build webs. Outdoors, this species occupies a wide variety of habitats, including trees, the forest floor, fruit orchards and other agricultural areas, as well as shrubs surrounding open fields.

These creatures are usually pale in color and can range from yellow to beige. They are quite small (about 1/2 inch long) and easy to overlook, with no distinct markings.

This species has eight simple eyes aligned in two rows of four, consisting of secondary and primary eyes. Secondary eyes are light sensitive and are used to track movement. Primary eyes are the only set of movable eyes and are used to view close objects.

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Grass Spider

Posted on September 3, 2013 by tspuckler

A couple of weeks ago when I went out to get the mail and opened the back door or the mailbox, I saw a spiderweb. It was apparent that a spider was living in there.

I thought it was nice to have an insect-free mailbox, with the spider quickly ridding it of any small creature that happened to wander inside it. I mean, who wants bugs in their mailbox?

The mailman, however, had a different point of view on the subject and did not share my enthusiasm. I have a rock garden in my backyard with plenty of crickets. They sing all the time. So I removed the spider from the mailbox and released him into the garden. You have to keep the mailman happy.

I kind of missed seeing my 8-legged friend in the days that followed. But recently I went out to get the mail and guess what?

Grass Spiders are commonly seen in Ohio and are classified as funnel web weavers. The structures they build are recognized by the large, somewhat concave, mostly horizontal, sheet-like web with a funnel or tunnel located off to one side.

The webs are found on grass, weeds, ground cover and in exterior places such as fencerows, bushes, brush piles, houses and garages. Funnel weavers and grass spiders build their funnel-shaped webs close to the ground. They hide in the narrow end of the funnel, which is usually protected by leaves or rocks.

Juvenile Grass Spiders emerge from the egg case in Spring and begin constructing miniature versions of typical webs. Throughout the weeks that follow, the web is enlarged, and by late Summer it can be quite sizeable.

Sometimes the web has a thin tangle of threads above the sheet. These act as “knock-down” threads for flying insects. After hitting these threads, the flying insect tumbles onto the sheet and is attacked by the spider.

Many common funnel weavers are also characterized by having bristly legs, which may aid in sensing prey. When an insect, spider, or other small creature crosses the wide end of the funnel, the spider feels the vibration and rushes out to grab its food.

The silk of this spider’s web is not adhesive. The Grass Spider relies upon lightning reflexes to dash out and grapple with its prey on the sheet. They are valuable to humans because they keep the insect population in check.

There is an old saying about Grass Spiders: When there is dew on their webs in the morning, it will be a beautiful day.

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Giant Carolina Wolf Spider

Posted on June 10, 2013 by tspuckler

Driving remote roads at night, I can see the green reflections from the eyes of large invertebrates on the pavement.

Wolf Spiders do not build webs to catch their food. Instead they use their vision and their sensivity to vibrations to hunt for prey.

This creature has eight eyes that are arranged in three rows. The bottom row has four small eyes, the middle row has two very large eyes and the top row has two medium-sized eyes.

This is a pretty large spider – with a three to four inch legspan. It may hunt actively at night or wait in ambush at the mouth of its burrow, where it hides during the day. Wolf Spiders are unique among their species because the females carry their eggs along with them in a round silken egg sack attached to their abdomens.

Immediately after the babies hatch and emerge from their protective case, they climb up their mother’s legs like a ladder and all crowd together on her back. Here they’ll stay for a few weeks until they’re large enough to hunt on their own.

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Category Archives: Spiders

Spined Micrathena

Sowbug Killer

Hacklemesh Weaver

House Spider

Orchard Orb Weaver

Bold Jumper

Cellar Spider

Yellow Sac Spider

Grass Spider

Giant Carolina Wolf Spider