The spider idenfication thread

[myright]

Ray's thread about him keeping that creepy BW got me thinking about this beast of a spider I saw on a hike recently. I'd love to know what kind it is so if anyone can help that would be great.

I've only got two pictures since I didn't want to try and get it out of the hole it was in.... I was skeeerd.....

I was in a stump and the web was probably 12+ inches in diameter and looked to be very tightly woven. He was sitting down at the bottom ready to strike. Here is a pic

 

[ArturoTostadoIII]

Looks like the world's deadliest spider, the Funnel Web Spider.

J/K. It does appear to be a type of funnel web spider but I need regional info for specifics.

 

[ArturoTostadoIII]

 

[myright]

Looks like the world's deadliest spider, the Funnel Web Spider.

J/K. It does appear to be a type of funnel web spider but I need regional info for specifics.

My mistake - I forgot that part. I was in VA at the top of a ridge, not sure of the exact altitude. I was probably mid 80s that day and humid.

 

[ArturoTostadoIII]

It's a grass spider.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5155497_common-spiders-virginia.html

 

[roughedges]

It's really difficult to guess from that pic; you need to get a lot closer . I will go out on a limb and say that I don't think it's dangerously poisonous. Va only really has two spiders that are dangerous to humans, black widow and brown recluse, and I highly highly doubt that it's either of those. Might be a wolf spider of some kind, I've heard they make cone shaped webs but have never seen one myself.

 

[SouthernCross]

You can see how their able to bite through a canvas shoe



Kind regards
Mick

 

[raylaconico]

Nice! You should have taken it home

 

[wongKI]

Looks like a wolf spider. Big one too.

 

[myright]

Nice! You should have taken it home

I should have sent it to you so you could have posted something here:

http://www.japanesebugfights.com/

 

[raylaconico]

I should have sent it to you so you could have posted something here:

http://www.japanesebugfights.com/

That's awsome! Thanks for the link. It will keep me entertained for a while:thumbup:

 

[turk.919]

Looks like a wolf spider. Big one too.

Got I hate them things, we had a couple in our shop as big as my hand, I have a BIG hand.

Ate well and we did not mess with them much, I killed one with a piece of rebar though.

 

[Old CW4]

Just yesterday I went out to wheel my garbage container out to the driveway for the collection truck. I noticed a 'rats nest' type web under the cross bar handle at one side. I bent down and looked. Sure enough, there was a big 'black lady' with the red hourglass. This is the second time I've had a widow nest under the garbage container cross bar. I now keep a spray can of roach killer on the front patio just for this reason. We have lots of BWs here in NM and you always have to be careful where you put your hands. I was BW bit back in 71 and I still remember the consequences. Wasn't pleasant. Lots of swelling, fever, tummy ache, etc.

 

[mete]

Black widow ? You're such a whimp, I had one in my basement apartment in CO !!
Funnel type ? I used to have them here but they seemed to have disappeared . We would study them by stunning a bug and putting it on the funnel and watch them respond to the vibrations on the web. Out they came and wrapped up the bug !! We tried japanese beatles but the beatle would just continue to move it's legs , tearing up the web quite a bit.

 

[Joezilla]

Agelenopsis but I'm not in possession of a key to go farther than that right now.

Most likely this gal though.

Generally called grass spider, funnel weaver, or even funnel web.

I had a pet one at the old beelab that took harbor in the old broken circular saw. It lasted for 2 years (I think its still there), feeding like a kind on bees that got in.

 

[PayetteRucker]

That's awsome! Thanks for the link. It will keep me entertained for a while:thumbup:

When we were bored to death on the ranges in florida, we'd see scorpions, wolf spiders, and massive black beetles. Guys would catch them and put them in a cardboard box and watch them fight to the death. Scorpion venom is only in the first 15-20 stings, after that they do nothing. Half the time they sting themselves to death cuz they get so worked up, or waste their first 5 or 6 stings' worth of venom on themselves. Wolf spiders were extremely aggressive though, I know their venom is not overly toxic to humans, but man they'd be all over anything.

 

[ArturoTostadoIII]

True story, a friend of mine went to the port-a-potty. Came out screaming.
He got bit in the balls by a BW. Just one ball, actually.
Still, he ended up going to the e-room due to swelling.
Since then he always carries a mirror to check under the seat.
My question to him was "Why are you still using port-a-potties?"

 

[desmobob]

True story, a friend of mine went to the port-a-potty. Came out screaming.
He got bit in the balls by a BW. Just one ball, actually.

I've read in a couple of places that the most common spot for BW bites in the old days was that general area. Outhouses were a common hang-out for those spiders.

Combing that bit of trivia with the photos of the necropsy from their bites makes me shudder....


Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[desmobob]

Wolf spiders were extremely aggressive though, I know their venom is not overly toxic to humans, but man they'd be all over anything.

They are wicked!

I found this one on a rusty 55-gal. drum. I grabbed a dried-up old goldenrod stalk to try to "herd" the spider into a better area for photographing him. When I started moving the little stick toward him, he lunged at at and I assume, bit it. Anyway, I plainly felt it at the other end the very lightweight stem. That, combined with the lightning-fast movement of that nasty-looking spider, made me yell like a girl, throw the stem and jump back. I'm lucky I didn't drop my macro gear!

Wolf spiders scare the bejeezus out of me.

Here's a much "cuter" little tiny goldenrod spider eating an even tinier little fly:

Stay sharp,
desmobob