# What Kind of Spider is This? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045 "2002-08-08T23:18:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/21 "2002-08-09T11:17:03Z")
We were out for a walk on Frensham Common the other day and amongst the heather, we found loads of funnel-shaped webs of [_Agelena labyrinthica_](http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Agelenidae/Agelenidae.htm); gently poke the web with a stem of grass and the spider comes charging out of the central tube to investigate; the kids were fascinated. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/22 "2002-08-09T12:56:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reeder \* > \*\*Because the spider in the OP is about two inches long and a Brown Recluse checks in at about 1/2 inch. \*\* D’oh. I also learned that the [first tarantulas](http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct98/baspid2.html) (named after the city of Taranto) are really wolf spiders. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/23 "2002-08-09T13:40:15Z")
Wolf spiders [DO](http://www.calpoison.org/public/spiders.html#5) bite. [Here](http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/wolf_spiders.htm)’s a site with a picture of a wolfie with its babies… pretty interesting! A common site around my house (SouthEast PA) when I was in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/24 "2002-08-09T14:06:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Because the spider in the OP is about two inches long and a Brown Recluse checks in at about 1/2 inch. According to the site: > [@](#): > > The leg span is about the size of a half dollar. So a brown recluse would be about half the size of the OP’s spider. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/25 "2002-08-09T14:15:23Z")
Oops! According to the other site linked by **Astroboy14** : > [@](#): > > The brown recluse spider is about a half-inch long (including legs) Sorry about that. :o ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/26 "2002-08-09T17:55:33Z")
> [@](#): > > “Neat” isn’t the word that springs to MY mind when I think of jumping spiders, **tomndebb**! Well _cool_, then. Each summer one of the larger jumpers (very black with white spots, body about 3/8 - 1/2 inch long) comes to watch our mail for us. As long as the postal carrier doesn’t smash her while throwing ads into the box, she’ll stay nearly the whole summer, laying her egg sac at the back corner of the mailbox. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/27 "2002-08-09T18:47:08Z")
I’ve got a very wolfie looking spider in a web by my porch light. I cannot for the life of me identify it. It’s very large; the body is about an inch long. But since wolf spiders live on the ground, I know that’s not what it is. It’s grayish brown and seems to have some red on it. I wish I had a digital camera! We often have a porch friend in the summer. Our buddy last year built the web between the porch supports. Those webs were massive; the supports are about 6 feet apart! ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/28 "2002-08-09T21:18:20Z")
from: [http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html) > [@](#): > > They do not establish themselves indoors and are not aggressive, but may bite if handled or molested. Well, stop molesting them you pervs!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/29 "2002-08-09T21:31:02Z")
from: [http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html) > [@](#): > > They do not establish themselves indoors and are not aggressive, but may bite if handled or molested. Well, stop molesting them you pervs!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/30 "2002-08-09T21:39:23Z")
from: [http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html) > [@](#): > > They do not establish themselves indoors and are not aggressive, but may bite if handled or molested. Well, stop molesting them you pervs!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/31 "2002-08-09T21:54:50Z")
_sigh_ bloody hamsters… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DragonMaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@DragonMaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonMaster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/32 "2002-08-09T22:17:59Z")
It’s one of the varieties of wolf spider. Some of them are greyish and build little funnel webs in corners that they hide in and hunt from. The one pictured is a roving hunter I think. I had a nasty experience with one of those once. Down south they have a variety with very large legs. ---
**Author:** ![ikcaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df705f/32.png) [@ikcaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ikcaj)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045/33 "2002-08-11T10:56:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mangoldm \* > \*\*[This spider](http://michael.mangold.com/spider.jpg) was in my house tonight, the 2nd one I’ve seen this week. What are these monsters? \*\* It is a harmless house spider of the wolf variety. I have several in my home and allow them to live in peace. The female house spider will make a web in a corner of the ceiling or a crack in a door frame and will happily live out her 6-8 year life span ridding your home of all sorts of bothersome creatures including cockroaches and wasps. The males are the ones that move around. Granted they can be scary and can sometimes get into places you wouldn’t want them, like your couch or bed. The best way to deal with them is to take a large jar and a piece of paper, place the jar over the spider, slide the paper under (or over if the spider is on the ceiling) the jar as a lid and simply toss outdoors. If you’re really fidgity open the door before proceeding, toss the jar itself outside then retrieve later when you are calmer. I realize it is normal for people to be scared of creatures smaller than us, I for one am phobic about yellow jackets, but the best I can say is that unless you like stinging insects, roaches or mosquitos, it’s best to become friendly with spiders, frogs and lizards as they are a much safer way to rid your home of the other pests than pesticides, or those combat-type discs which children and pets love to eat! Here are some good sites on spiders. ## [http://www.ufsia.ac.be/Arachnology/Pages/A\_collec.html](http://www.ufsia.ac.be/Arachnology/Pages/A_collec.html) [http://pherec.org/entguides/EntGuide7-Spiders.html](http://pherec.org/entguides/EntGuide7-Spiders.html) This post in loving memory of Elgonia, my faithful bathroom friend for 5 years, may her children carry on her legacy! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-spider-is-this/123045.md?page=1)