# ID this freaky spider on my door jamb **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474 "2015-09-09T22:53:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/1 "2015-09-09T22:53:23Z")
Saw [this freaky thing](http://i.imgur.com/X6wsW5c.jpg?1) today on my door jamb. Sorry for no scale but it was fairly large, like maybe 3-4 inches long at least. The location is in Riverside, CA. What could it be? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/2 "2015-09-09T22:59:26Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Saw [this freaky thing](http://i.imgur.com/X6wsW5c.jpg?1) today on my door jamb. Sorry for no scale but it was fairly large, like maybe 3-4 inches long at least. The location is in Riverside, CA. What could it be? I am not a spiderologist nor a spideronemer, but I have successfully ID’d that as Absolutely Horrifying and Nightmarish. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/3 "2015-09-09T23:04:01Z")
[Green Lynx spider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_lynx_spider)? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/4 "2015-09-09T23:09:11Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > [Green Lynx spider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_lynx_spider)? That’s probably it! Thanks. Sounds like the females are especially nasty, and they’re squirters… > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Remarkably, one of her means of defence is to squirt venom from her chelicerae, sometimes for a distance of about a foot (300 mm). ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/5 "2015-09-10T00:04:25Z")
They are only nasty if you are a small insect and they want dinner. No hassle for humans. Lynx spiders have the extremely long spiky hairs. That’s the way they detect a great deal about the world. Those hairs are incredibly sensitive. Yours looks like a male to me. The pedipalps (aka palps), the small appendages on the front, are engorged at the end - although I can’t see clearly enough to be sure. The males wander in search of a female and usually stop feeding. They have only one goal - to find a female and mate. To prepare for this great event (should they be lucky enough to come across a female in their last weeks) they spin a sperm web, ejaculate sperm onto it, gather the sperm in the organs on the end of the palps and head off. That way they don’t have to worry about actually producing the sperm when they deal with a mate who - if they get their signals wrong - might mistake them for dinner. Incredible critters. Yours is particularly impressive! ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/6 "2015-09-10T01:47:11Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > That’s probably it! Thanks. Sounds like the females are especially nasty, and they’re squirters… They need to shave their legs too! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/7 "2015-09-10T01:52:07Z")
The Wikipedia entry says that the female, larger than the male, is under one inch in size, where the OP says that this one was 3-4". That’s quite a disparity, and if the OP’s is a male, then even more so. So, OP, what did you do with it? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/8 "2015-09-10T01:53:43Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > The Wikipedia entry says that the female, larger than the male, is under one inch in size, where the OP says that this one was 3-4". That’s quite a disparity, and if the OP’s is a male, then even more so. > > So, OP, what did you do with it? I can only imagine that that horrorshow has subdued the OP and is laying eggs in his (her?) brain. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/9 "2015-09-10T02:33:05Z")
It depends how you measure spider size. Wiki will use the usual arachologist measure which is body length. The general public often use the length of the spider including legs. Hence a massive difference. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/10 "2015-09-10T02:41:05Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > The Wikipedia entry says that the female, larger than the male, is under one inch in size, where the OP says that this one was 3-4". That’s quite a disparity, and if the OP’s is a male, then even more so. The Wikipedia article says that the _body_ is under an inch, and I assume the OP was talking about the overall length including legs. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/11 "2015-09-10T02:49:45Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > The Wikipedia entry says that the female, larger than the male, is under one inch in size, where the OP says that this one was 3-4". That’s quite a disparity, and if the OP’s is a male, then even more so. > > So, OP, what did you do with it? > [@lynne-42](#): > > It depends how you measure spider size. Wiki will use the usual arachologist measure which is body length. The general public often use the length of the spider including legs. Hence a massive difference. > [@CurtC](#): > > The Wikipedia article says that the _body_ is under an inch, and I assume the OP was talking about the overall length including legs. Yeah - I read that too and realized they were just talking about the torso length. As a mere layperson, I was looking at the entire thing and including the legs in the estimate. Either way, it’s a big-ass spider. Oh, and I left it alone since it was **outside** my residence (the door jamb in question was my apartment’s front door). If it was inside, I would have killed it in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/12 "2015-09-10T03:03:09Z")
Wow. Never seen that before! Thank you for expanding my knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/13 "2015-09-10T03:57:45Z")
I think it is pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/14 "2015-09-10T04:02:47Z")
Calling **Colibri** … ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/15 "2015-09-10T12:08:04Z")
I was gazing at in awed fascination when I accidentally clicked my left mouse button and the damned thing grew 20 times larger. I’m still recovering from the shock! ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/16 "2015-09-10T22:37:54Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > I think it is pretty. So do I. That’s a beautiful green. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/17 "2015-09-10T23:08:11Z")
Sounds like your spider has been ID’d so I’m just going to throw out today’s funny spider experience. I was going through the utility room to the garage when I noticed a big, black, dead cricket lying on the floor. I bent over to pick it up for disposal and as I picked it up a tiny little spider jumped off of it, ran a few steps, turned towards me and raised it’s four front legs and shook it’s tiny fists in impotent rage. I felt bad so I put the cricket back where it was. I just went out and looked, the cricket is still there, no sign of the spider. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-freaky-spider-on-my-door-jamb/730474/18 "2015-09-10T23:27:25Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Sounds like your spider has been ID’d so I’m just going to throw out today’s funny spider experience. I was going through the utility room to the garage when I noticed a big, black, dead cricket lying on the floor. I bent over to pick it up for disposal and as I picked it up a tiny little spider jumped off of it, ran a few steps, turned towards me and raised it’s four front legs and shook it’s tiny fists in impotent rage. I felt bad so I put the cricket back where it was. > > I just went out and looked, the cricket is still there, no sign of the spider. I giggle uncontrollably every time I see that simpsons treehouse of horror parody of the fly and flybart (bartfly?) pretends to be stuck in the spiderweb only to buzz off with the spider shaking his four fists, as you describe.