What is this?

[Minkness]

Found this guy outside my door this morning. No idea what it is but a friend suggested brown widow. Any other ideas?

[FWK]

It's not a Brown Widow, they have longer, hairless legs. It looks like an Orb Weaver of some kind, possibly a Furrow Spider (Larinioides sp.). There is a guy on Facebook by the name of Nathan, he runs a group called Antman's Hill (TM) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/antmans.hill/). He'd know much more about it than I do.

[Minkness]

It seemed to have a 'normal' spiral web, but it was very large. Als9, I do not have a FB ^_^;;

[FWK]

Oh lol, well with a web like that it is definitely an Orb Weaver. Narrowing it down to the exact species is beyond me though. I'll stick to my Furrow Spider guess.

[Minkness]

Are they particularly dangerous to have around?I'd like to keep it around for all the mosquitoes and other bugs but with my other pets in the area I'd rather not risk a bite if it's bad. =/

[wrecker45]

I would keep it around. Found this guy the other day.33110

[lady_bug87]

nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope

[FWK]

Are they particularly dangerous to have around?I'd like to keep it around for all the mosquitoes and other bugs but with my other pets in the area I'd rather not risk a bite if it's bad. =/

Nah, they're harmless. You'd have to handle it to get bit anyway, and even then it probably wouldn't bite unless you squeezed it or restrained it in some way. I've walked through countless webs while herping and what not and never been bit.

[Minkness]

nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope

Lol nope about what?

[ManSlaughter33]

I found these 2 in hawaii last year.. any ideas? :) (While we're on the topic)

[Princess-dad]

I would keep it around. Found this guy the other day.33110

I dont know what they relay are but we called em banana spiders when I was a kid lol .

[lady_bug87]

Lol nope about what?

All of it....

[Minkness]

All of it....

Uh...that it's about spiders or that I considered removing it?

[FWK]

I found these 2 in hawaii last year.. any ideas? :) (While we're on the topic)

Also an Orb Weaver, possibly Argiope appensa. The smaller one is a male hoping to hook up with the much larger female.

[Minkness]

So is the one in my pic possibly male seeing as it's small and brown?

[FWK]

So is the one in my pic possibly male seeing as it's small and brown?

No, yours is female. To my knowledge (and I admit my knowledge about spiders is limited) male Orb Weavers don't build webs, they only seek out the females webs to breed. And usually get eaten in the process lol.

[prairiepanda]

No, yours is female. To my knowledge (and I admit my knowledge about spiders is limited) male Orb Weavers don't build webs, they only seek out the females webs to breed. And usually get eaten in the process lol.

Immature males build webs for catching prey. Once males mature, food is no longer a concern for them, so they abandon their webs to search for the one thing that's on their minds and live until either they get eaten or starve to death.

That said, the one Minkness found is definitely female. Males, even if they aren't yet mature, won't have such fat abdomens. And mature males will have longer forelegs and bulbous pedipalps(although you can't see the pedipalps in that photo).


nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope
I think we might need to start putting a "SPIDERS" warning in the subject line of threads containing spider photos.

[Minkness]

Cool. Thanks for all the info everyone! =D

[prairiepanda]

I should note that what I said about gender was a generalization about orb weaving spiders and doesn't necessarily apply to other kinds of spiders! Here's an immature female Pelegrina aeneola (a species of jumping spider with no common name) who I recently caught at a family reunion. Once she matures, probably next spring, she'll get fatter. But in jumping spiders, the biggest difference between males and females is usually colour! Males of this species are almost entirely brown or black. Unfortunately sometimes males of one species may have similar colouration to females of another species, so it's important to know what species occur locally before trying to breed jumping spiders.

http://i.imgur.com/bSwVU8e.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/KsP5zEQ.jpg?1
High five!

Sorry for the crappy phone pics; she's really tiny and fast!

[ManSlaughter33]

Omg i love that hi-five pic

(on my work comp sorry caps only here. Im not shouting)

[FWK]

Immature males build webs for catching prey. Once males mature, food is no longer a concern for them, so they abandon their webs to search for the one thing that's on their minds and live until either they get eaten or starve to death.

Excellent, ty.

I think we might need to start putting a "SPIDERS" warning in the subject line of threads containing spider photos.

One would think, given that this is posted on the inverts subforum, that such a disclaimer would be unnecessary, even redundant. But then, I suppose irrational fears run deep, even with people who keep snakes.

[that1guy]

The picture is that not great and it could be Larinioides cornutus the furrow spider or Neoscona crucifera the spotted orbweaver or barn spider.

[toddnbecka]

No clue about species name, but it looks similar to some orb weavers I've seen locally over the years. They would put up a new web each night, but I never saw them during the day, and the web would be completely gone in the morning. When something landed in the web the spider would quickly come out and wrap it in a cocoon with just a few rotations. Every other web-weaving spider I've seen that binds their prey simply use a single strand of web, but those produce an entire sheet.

[Minkness]

Cool. =) i see it in the morning and the evening when I am comeing home or leaving for work, but not there to see if it's out during the actual day.

If it helps, I'm in middle TN.

[Salty Rob]

Minkness I have a few of those where I live in Oklahoma. They are pretty cool to sit with a filtered red light. I just use a flashlight that has a red disk in it. They are awesome to watch feed.