# ID this spider. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040 "2006-09-09T04:21:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/1 "2006-09-09T04:21:03Z")
Probably about two or two and a half inches from tip of front to tip of back legs. Any help? [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Garf226/SPIDER.jpg](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Garf226/SPIDER.jpg) (big picture of spider in link (duh), so if those things scare you, don’t go) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/2 "2006-09-09T06:30:48Z")
I’d say that it is a wolf spider by its shape (and your description of its size). Wolf spiders have a faint dorsal stripe and, occasionally, patterns extending out from the stripe. I do not see extended markings, but the dorsal stripe is present. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/3 "2006-09-09T06:41:45Z")
I’ll second a wolf spider. Where are you, generally? North America, I presume. I might be able to look it up at work, but just offhand I’d say it’s unlikely to do you much harm and is likely taking out it’s share of even creepier and more harmfull bugs. Someone donated one rather like it to the zoo last week. I had to set it up in a nice little cage and now I have to feed it crickets and keep it’s water sponge full. See how much fun my job is?! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/4 "2006-09-09T06:59:30Z")
The species might by [Hogna helluo](http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu/spiderweb/SpiderPictures/Lycosidae/Hogna%20helluo.htm) based on coloring (from [this site](http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu/spiderweb/SpiderPictures/Lycosidae/Lycosidae.htm)). ---
**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 9, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/5 "2006-09-09T12:56:56Z")
I’d also like to know your location. I only know the Australian spiders, but it is certianly like our wolf spiders. Is it on the ceiling, though? Ours don’t tend to climb. I’d guess it is an adult male The palps look like they have engorged bulbs on the end, which means it’s a guy whose only interest is a female. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/6 "2006-09-09T15:16:01Z")
Wolf spiders are scary. [Link to picture of a wolf spider that lumbered across the living room floor last winter, causing me to scream and alarm the neighbours.](http://members.shaw.ca/janenoel/eek.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/7 "2006-09-09T16:19:22Z")
Hey, **Savannah** , thanks heaps. I’ll be in Victoria on Sept 30, overnight. I like tarantullas, but I must admit, if one of that thing’s brothers or sisters turns up in my bed, I’m gonna scream like a little girl too! And this from a woman who’ll be in Vic with a rather large boa. ([Hijack] - get over to the Central Bar and Grill on View St. Um, I think it’s sold out, but if you can get in, you’ll see the best damn Alice Cooper tribute band in Canada. Come say “Hi” to Frankenstein! That’s me. I’m also one of the executioners and the orderly. Offstage I’ll be wearing a black “School’s Out” shirt [/end hijack]) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/8 "2006-09-09T16:40:25Z")
[QUOTE=Garfield226] **ID this spider.** [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Garf226/SPIDER.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Garf226/SPIDER.jpg) [/QUOTE] I call that one, “Mr. Bitey”. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/9 "2006-09-09T19:30:42Z")
We used to get a lot of wolf spiders at our old house. Probably a combination of house built on a slab (no basement) and the large field out back. Harmless, but will definitely scare the crap out of you. I’ll never forget waking up one morning to the sound of my stepdaughter screaming “Oh my God! That’s the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life!” Luckily it was about a foot from the front door so I just opened the door and shooed him out. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/10 "2006-09-09T21:11:15Z")
Hey, thanks for the help everyone. I’m from Illinois – southern Illinois currently. I was under the impression wolf spiders were Australian, but apparently there are some species in the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/11 "2006-09-09T21:44:10Z")
Is it more likely, in the midwest, to be a \*Tegenaria \* or an _Agelenopsis_? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/12 "2006-09-09T22:31:01Z")
> [@](#): > > but apparently there are some species in the U.S.? There are lots of species of wolf spiders in the U.S. (and worldwide). I have at least two species in my basement and the same two and an additional three or so in my back yard. Since they run down their prey, using their silk for things other than prey capture, I don’t have any trouble co-habiting with them. (No cobwebs.) ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/13 "2006-09-11T02:36:58Z")
I had one of those nasty looking things hitch-hike from my basement-to-outside door into my van. I got into the van the next morning and got entangled in web. BLEAH. I don’t know where it’s got to, but it hasn’t eaten the children yet. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/14 "2006-09-11T13:49:43Z")
Someone tell me the difference between Garf’s linked spider and a [hobo spider](http://www.hobospider.com/info/), because that sucker looks eerily to me like a hobo, what with those big “boxing glove” type pedipalps. Hobo spiders are dangerous; although they won’t kill you, their bite can cause the flesh around the bite to become necrotic and result in a permanent scar. ---
**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 11, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/15 "2006-09-11T14:05:33Z")
The ‘boxing glove’ type pedipalps (great description!) are typical of any male spider ready to mate, so that isn’t useful in deciding on species. It just means he’s ready for action. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/16 "2006-09-11T14:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] Someone tell me the difference between Garf’s linked spider and a [hobo spider](http://www.hobospider.com/info/)…schnippe [/QUOTE] In the Pacific NW there are hobos and house spiders. I can’t tell the difference because by the time I’m ready to inspect them they’re just a gooey mess. But it seems that they look an awful lot like wolf spiders just before they get smashed with a rock. Are hobos/house/wolfs clsoely related? Because they all seem to have that herringbone-adorned abdomen and the 8 legs. ---
**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 11, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/17 "2006-09-11T14:46:38Z")
What we call a house spider in Australia looks nothing like a wolf or hobo spider. I checked on Google to see what you call a house spider in America and got spiders looking like what we call a brown house spider: [house spider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_house_spider) If we just say ‘house spider’ we tend to mean the [black house spider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_house_spider). It seems you don’t get them. Pity - they are really great spiders to watch. Observing them was a big part of overcoming my fear and becoming a spider obsessive. I have quite a few of them I watch daily. We would have a few hundred on the house, as do most Australian homes unless you clean them off. As for the relationship - no it isn’t close. All of these are Class Arachnida and order Araneae giving them 8 legs (including all spiders, mites, harvestmen and scoprions). But they are all different families. The Hobo spider is family Agelenidae. The wolf spider is family Lycosidae. The black house is Desidae and the common house spider is Theridiidae, along with the widow spiders. Theridiidae have really tangly webs. The other two have funnel type webs. Wolf spiders don’t have webs. So if it’s wandering around the house away from a web, it is much more likely to be a wolf spider than any of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/18 "2006-09-11T17:35:57Z")
[QUOTE=lynne-42] If we just say ‘house spider’ we tend to mean the [black house spider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_house_spider). It seems you don’t get them. Pity - they are really great spiders to watch. [/QUOTE] - runs screaming from the thread \* ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/19 "2006-09-11T19:06:55Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] Someone tell me the difference between Garf’s linked spider and a [hobo spider](http://www.hobospider.com/info/) [/QUOTE] Garf’s spider has distinct ring joints, which your link says hobos do not have. Also, I see the ringed pattern on Garf’s spider’s back, not the V of a hobo. I think it is a wolf spider. And the chart on my wall says wolf’s are not dangerous, but they do have a painful bite. ---
**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 12, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040/20 "2006-09-12T00:02:18Z")
I am now intrigued to know what you Americans (or any other countries) have in the niche filled by our black house spiders. Do you have a spider which builds its webs into the corners of windows, holes in brick work, gaps in fences and so on? **Inigo Montoya** : the black house might look a bit scary, but they are incredibly shy. When I try to talk to them, or get a close look, they always dash straight back into their retreats. Then again, it might be my conversation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-spider/372040.md?page=2)