Help Identify a Spider

Two fanged spider shown up-close.Need help identifying a spider? If so, then take a look at our collection of spider pictures to see if it looks like yours.

You can also look through the comments below to see if any of the images match your spider.

Don’t see your spider? feel free to upload your photo here and we’ll attempt to id it, and if we can’t, then perhaps one of the visitors can after we post it.

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  1. Jannelle says:

    i found a spider in my kitchen sink. And ive never seen it before.. and since i love spiders so much.. i kept it.. hes in a tank in my room and ive been feeding it for the past couple of days. its black and about 3 quarters of an inch long… it has a red spot in the middle of its back and along the edges of its hind part.. its kinda fuzzy and has blue fangs.. Ive been searching the internet for 3 days trying to figure out what it is.. but i cant find anything.. maybe you can help me?

  2. Christina S. says:

    I would just like help identifying this spider I found walking down my wall. I live in upstate, NY. Thanks.

    spider

    Christina

  3. Corean says:

    I dont know what kind of spider bit me, but it bit me, my daughter as well as my husband. The bite is very painful. It is sollen and hard like a rock. When squeezed pus comes out it has been about a week and isnt getting better. I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of bite it sounds like. It affects the way i walk i almost have to limp around. Please HelP!

  4. Chantel Andersen says:

    Don’t have a pic as my fiance killed it before telling me what it looked like, but he said it had the same body as a black widow, but short stubby legs with three red dots. I have never heard or seen anything like it, to include all my searches on the web. We live in SW Iowa if anyone has any clue as to what it may be. Thanks.

  5. Lori says:

    That looks like the spiders we’ve had in our house. Seems like these things get around, lol. There are several pics of these on here so hopefully someone will be able to identify it. I’m just worried about them being harmful or pulling back the bed cover one night and find one in my bed. I’ve already informed my husband to call 911 because I would definitely have a heart attack.

  6. Cabral says:

    My husband found this spider in our house this morning. We have 4 babies under 5, one a NB. We are very worried and scared that he may be very poisionous. We have called around and were told that he is a Tank Spider. But I can’t find any information online about tank spiders. So I am coming to you for help please help me find out what this spider is so I can insure my families safety!

    spider

  7. Christy F. says:

    Not really sure what type of spider this is!! My family and I just moved in to an 30 year old house and have been here only 2 weeks and have seen four of these already! Two of them which were dead already, killed one, and my husband released the other one.

    They have only been seen on the floors of our home mainly around the doors. It just scares me cause my 2year old son likes playing with bugs just trying to see if it is gonna be dangerous for him

    spider

  8. Sean P. says:

    I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of spider this is, It
    was on my screen. I live in Jacksonville FL.

    spider

    Thanks,
    Sean

  9. Michael M. says:

    I just found this spider outside our house in Santa Barbara, CA. I’m wondering if you can give me any insight as to what species this is. I would much appreciate your help!

    spider

  10. Flifli says:

    I found a spider near my bed this morning that looks very very much like the spider in 72’s picture, though after I smashed it many many times with a bottle you can’t tell so I don’t have pictures ^.^” but the thing is that I live in Alaska where brown recluses do not normally frequent, does anyone know any look alikes that this could be?

  11. Kristy says:

    I live in southern Georgia, and my air conditioning went out so I had my windows open. I noticed a small, about the size of an plain m&m candy, black spider with a white or pale yellow striped on its back. I’m not sure about the color as I immediately killed it since I have two small kittens and don’t want them to get hurt (and I have a bit of an arachnophobia).

    I’d like to know if its poisonous. I can’t seem to find anything on the web using the description I gave, so if anyone can even give me a guess, I’d really appreciate it!

  12. Lori says:

    For Frank #334

    It looks like what we’ve had in our house in SE Indiana. Ours weren’t on the move, though, thank god. I am not a spider fan, and they were exterminated immediately. I am concerned as you are as to whether they are biters or venomous.

    Lori #330

  13. Hobart says:

    I live in Northern Michigan and I am trying to identify a spider that I recently found outside my home. This spider was found in my back yard on the edge of a folding chair. I was cleaning the chair when I was this spider. It looked sort of like a black widow at first because it is black and shiny. However there is a reddish orange dot on it’s back and there are also two reddish-orange dots on its underside. The rear of this spider was about as big as a grape.

    I ruined the spider while trying to remove it from the bag I had put it in so a picture is not possible. If anyone is able to identify this spider for me or give me infromation on how I can identify it myself I would appreciate it. I am also curious to know if it was a poisonious spider and one that I should be looking out for as I have small children as well as dogs. I have spent the past hour trying to find websites on the internet to identify it myself before finding this website. Your help is appreciated! Thanks!

  14. Tara says:

    Hello My son went to a friends baesball practice and when he came home he had a bite that was the size of a large bounce ball. Now 1 week later it’s the size of a baseball. It is red and swollen. I thought he got stung and he was having a skin reaction but now because it had gotten bigger I don’t know what it is. Could you help me.

  15. Linda D. says:

    This was found in a box on my back deck in central Michigan. The body is about an inch long, from leg tip to leg tip is about three inches. It doesn’t have the two large eyes that a wolf spider has. Any idea?

  16. Frank D. says:

    We found this spider in our finished basement living area today on June 1, 2008. We live in a mostly wooded area in suburban Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. Specific location was a carpeted bedroom. We were amazed at the size, over 2 inches in diameter. It was extremely fast and a good jumper. It was on the move with no visible web.

    It was a little too big to share my house with. Is this a likely biter?

    I put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes which proved fatal but allowed me to take these pictures. If you need more views let me know.

    spider

    spider

    Thanks!

    Frank

  17. Katie says:

    Unfortunately I cant take a picture of the spider.

    It’s small (spread out max is no more than the size of a dime), brown legs and stomach with a black black. The back also has 3 rows (left to right) of 2 white/yellow dots. I tried looking up pictures of the garden spider that sounds close to that description but all those pictures showed spiders with stripes on their legs also and the only markings on this one are the dots on it’s back. The body is mat (not shiney) but I can make out two shiney eyes if I squint through the glass jar.
    I’m up in Seattle, WA.

    Any ideas on what type it is.

  18. Jeana says:

    i need to know what this spider is its dark brown it has 2 lines like this II on its head and a white snow ball looking body is it harmfull ?

  19. Craig says:

    I live in Tulsa, OK in a suburban area and found a good sized spider outside in our porch. It’s not like anything else I’ve seen out here (orb weavers, wolf spiders and others) and I have pics as killing it seemed unnecessary. If I send you photos, could you tell me what it is?

  20. Lori F. says:

    This isn’t a very good pic, as I didn’t want to get too close to this thing. This is the third one of these we have killed in the past couple of weeks, the last two in the past 24 hours. We live in SE Indiana in a heavily wooded area. They just sit there on the wall or door. I don’t see any webs or anything around it. Our utility room is right off the back door and my step son killed one yesterday and today there was one on the back door, inside the house.

    It is brown/black in color with what looks like orange/red bands on it’s legs. The bodies are about an inch to an inch and a half in length (i was eyeballing it, didn’t want to get close enough to use a ruler, lol) and with it’s leg span, it looks to be about 5 inches (maybe). I’ve searched several different websites and I really cannot find a picture of it to compare it too. Also, in case this helps, the weather conditions here have been very hot and humid. We’ve had some rain, but not anything that has been excessive. Any help in identfying it would be great.

    spider

    Thanks.

    Lori

  21. Green Roc says:

    Location: Southern California, USA

    I would like to ask the forum to ID a spider I saw on my walk home last night. After avoiding a black widow (saw the spider, upside-down in it’s web at a crosswalk) I ran into another web with my grocery bag, and went to the next possible lit area to inspect my groceries.

    I immediately saw this light brown spider next to where I put my things down. It had a plump abdomen, and was hard to see for it had it’s legs pulled close to it’s body. Fuzzy all over, and about the size of a pea when in this state, I blew on it and it crawled slightly, but not away from my breath or towards me, so I would guess it has a bit of aggression as it stuck out it’s front two legs, at one point in my breaths I just wanted to get a better look without harming it. I did not notice any distinguishable bands on it’s legs but it is possible the harry legs, about 1/3 cm in length each (fully stretched) had some faint markings, but the street light was dim so I could be mistaken. The BB-sized abdomen had a darker brown stripe, with parts of the color branching off towards the back.

    If I did not give a good enough description, I guess I could draw it if someone asks me to. I have a photographic memory.

    Thank you to whoever replies with an ID.

  22. Luana and Scott says:

    We found this spider living in our chive plant on our front porch. It is powerful enough to kill a bumble bee, we saw it attached to it for over 24 hours. We live in Southeast Alaska and have never seen a spider like this before.

  23. Diana says:

    Hi,
    1 Quick question and some thoughts:
    I found a spider, looked like a small tarantula – was very furry, black except the legs from the first joint downward were shiny brown – completely hairless – looked like wooden legs on a small black tarantula – also he was a bit grumpy for such a little guy… Any thoughts – sorry no picture…

    Tiffany #294 – sounds like Daring (Dearing??) Spiders from your description which are very beneficial and very rarely bite. I’ve been around many of them and have not been bit and they are great for killing yucky bugs (like roaches & flies)

    Shell #284 – that looks like a sun spider. They can get pretty big and have big webs but are beneficial – just a little intimidating. If you disturb them, many times they will move to a new location because they dont like to rebuild those big webs (I’m from NM and used to see them alot in the oilfield on the steps of the tanks)

    #300 – looks like a wolf spider to me. They are usually not aggressive but may have run across your sons foot in an effort to get past him and he may have thought it was attacking him. They are very common, relatively harmless and beneficial…

    Ben #274 & Ranae #275 – I agree completely. That is by all appearances a brown recluse…Most noticeably the sickly beige (grey) color of the abdomen and the long oval shape of the abdomen and secondly the very clear violin shape on its head…

    Noel #265 – did you find this with some Daddy Long legs??? I’ve found a bunch of those in cellars and other dark damp places with lots of Daddy Long legs, I beleive they are either young or old ones – as they have the identicle “non-arachnid” body – Little known fact – daddy long legs are really members of the crab family and roly polies are members of the shrimp family.

  24. Whitney Alas says:

    I am desperate to get rid of these black, skinny spiders that reside in my carpet!! One moment they will appear, and the next they suddenly disappear into the carpet once again…it’s as if they bury themselves in the carpet in a matter of seconds! I do not know what type of spider this is…but how do I get rid of it?? I have vaccumed plenty of times and they still appear. They are black, and very long (not a daddy-long leg)

  25. Braden Scott says:

    A small (1-2cm long) spider keeps showing up in my room, usually around my computer, he (or she) is mostly black with some small yellow lines. I live in Southern Canada.

  26. Scott says:

    I found this spider crawling across the floor in the middle of my living room. I didn’t want to smash it, but I am uncomfortable with crawly things and it was the biggest crawly I had ever seen in my house. I am usually good at identifying things like this, but This spider has such a long abdomen. What is it?

  27. Jessica says:

    I don’t have a picture of the spider but I can try to describe it as best as I can. It was brown, not really dark. When I first saw it I thought it was a Daddy Longleg but the legs were too thick and its body was too big. It really did resemble a Daddy Longleg, but I have seen too many of those to mistake it. I just want to make sure there is not poisionous spiders running around my bedroom.

  28. Kate says:

    I didnt get a picture because i was too busy screaming,but here’s what i remember…
    It was probably a little more than a half inch long.
    It was on my bed.
    Its back was red, but the rest of it was black.
    I live in central South Dakota.

  29. Tanya Scott says:

    I do not have a picture but in my bathroom a few days ago I came across a spider I had never seen before. It’s body was brown and it had a black stripe down it’s back with little white stripes beside the larger black stripe. I’ve never seen one before and can’t even find a picture close to what it looks like. Can anyone please tell me what it is?

  30. Art Wilmoth says:

    I’ve never seen anything like this one. I call it a crown crap spider?

    I’ll try to send you a picture.

    It’s black with pincures like a crab, and has a crown around the body, and spins a web here in clearwater florida.

    What is it? Did I find a new one/ unnamed?

    spider

    Art

  31. Shana says:

    i don’t have a photo. I got bit on my neck by a tiny brown spider with a black rear. It doesn’t sting or anything anymore, but since the bite i have been congested and feel like a cold is coming on. Just wanting to see if anyone else had like-symptoms. If so please contact me. Thanks

  32. Felicia says:

    Hello, I live in south-central PA, and I have seen a certain type of spider several times that I cannot identify. The body (including legs and thorax) are yellow, and the abdomen is a solid gray. It has been a while since I have seen one, but Im still curious to know what type it is. I also believe that they are a traveling spider, (I have never seen a web nearby) and they walk slowly, or “creep”, but when they are confronted, they can move very swift! I have also never seen one larger than an inch in size. From what I remember, they did not have hair on them either. Thanks for your time!

  33. Betina Stambaugh says:

    I have caught a small spider hanging from my ceiling today. It has a body akin to a black widow but it is dark brown with two tone legs. Almost a pale yellowish and dark brown stripe on its legs. It is very small and I cannot get a picture through the glass on the container I captured it in. However I cannot see much on its underside but it does appear to have some sort of design there. Is there a large amount of spiders with a widow style body out there? By the way I am in eastern Ky.

    Thanks

  34. Kim B. says:

    I live near a lot of Jack Pines. This spider was on my grand children’s slide, there was a web underneath the slide it ran to. It also jumped to the ground. Could you please tell me what it is for sure. I have been told wolf spider, nursery web spider. not sure. Is it harmful?

    spider

    Thanks Kim

  35. Amy C. says:

    We live in SC near Spartanburg. We have been finding several of these spiders. We have had the exterminator out and it does not seem to help. We always find them in the house and have not seen any outside. They have been found in all rooms(not basement). I sent them to Virginia Tech for identification and they told us it was in the wolf spider family and not poisonous. BUT they could not give us a picture and we could not find any pictures on the internet about them except the RED BACK SPIDER. However when we mentioned that the guy at VT said no it was not that. He said that he has seen some in Ohio like this.

    He has not seen any in VA like it. BUT the Red Back is from Australia. The weird thing is that we have never seen any spider like this and we have friends that are natives to the area. They have found some like this at their house and they said that they have NEVER in all their years here seen this kind of spider either. So we are thinking it may be the RedBack and just have arrived in our area. Can anyone give any insight? The reddish orange stripe down the back is not on the abdomen like a black widow. The webs they make in the jars we catch them in are cob webs not pretty webs.

    spider

  36. Kristina says:

    Yesterday after I came back from football practice, I noticed something that looked like a spider bite. It was a little larger than the size of a quarter, and it looked like a bulls-eye where at the very center, there was a dark purple/red scab surrounded by a red circle, and the outside ring of the bulls-eye was purple. I immediately went to the ER where they put me on antibiotics. Today, it seems as if it has slightly spread in width to where it now looks like an oval. The outside of the circle has become mixed with colors of brown/yellow/residual purple. This never itched or caused me any pain. It has not raised in height. I haven’t felt any symptoms of fever/nausea/other illness … but today I feel like a headache might be coming on … but I’m also wondering if thats psychosomatic, cuz I’ve been freaking out a little bit, wondering if this was a poisonous bite and doing internet research.

    I have other little bites on my arm – but those are from about a week ago and they are going away. But today I also found a little red bump on my stomach, but this has not spread into anything like the bulls-eye I found on my arm.

    Any suggestions as to where I got this from? Whether this is poisonous or not?

    Also, I live in the Northern VA/Washington DC/Maryland metro area.

  37. caroline says:

    i have been bit by a spider and my bite is not that big and kinda itchy. but the problem is i dont know what spider bit me. it was black and had a big white stomach.so can you help me identify the spider?PLEASE!!! thanks caroline<3

  38. Annie says:

    We found a black spider with short legs and a white spot on it’s head.
    Think it is a black house spider other then the legs dont match.
    Any ideas???

  39. amanda says:

    I dont have a photo so ill try to describe it the best way i can.I was in my friends yard and saw a huge black spider with white spots on its behind and stubby furry legs.We are very concerned about whether or not its poisonous and where it comes from I have never seen such a big spider in the city! if u can help us thanks alot!

  40. briannat. says:

    hello,
    i was recently at my mothers company picnic and i was setting things up at about 9:30am in sand. After a couple of min. being in the sand, i felt my right foot start tingling and it immediatly became numb, and became swollen as well. The pain came up to my knee and my foot felt like it weighed quite alot. I then started feeling sick to my stomach and my mother rushed me to Urgent Care where they told me i was probably bit by a spider and gave me a steroid shot. It is now 2:56 pm the same day and pain is still there. I live in Arizona about 2.5 hours away from Yuma,if that helps any.

    I think it was a jumping spider, but not sure.
    HELP!
    MY FOOT HURTS DUDE!

    thank you.

  41. Donita says:

    My daughter found a black spider with an upside down white heart on it’s body with two white circles below it, and two tan lines down the bottom of it’s body. The body is about 1/2″ long, 1/3″ wide, and 1/4″ thick and the head is about 1/5″ long, 1/6″ wide, and 1/8″ thick. It’s legs are about 2/3″ long. I have never seen this spider anywhere. I mean an actual heart! WOW! Please help us identify it. She found it on our garbage can on the afternoon of 06/04/2008 in Cleveland, Ohio. We have it in a jar but our digital camera was broken by lithium batteries, so we cannot upload a picture. Thank you for your time and assistance with this matter. It’s driving me crazy.

  42. Marianne says:

    I found a spider in my basement tonight. It was about the size of a dime. It was very shiny and black with 2 thin yellow lines down its back. It was delicate looking and very shy. It ran under the dryer when I tried to catch it.

    I have pets and children, so I would like to know if I should be worried. I don’t have a picture, although I will keep looking for it to take one.

  43. Elanor says:

    I live in Central Florida and my apartment has vinyl siding. I’ve noticed the past few weeks these splotches of spider web sort of poking out from under the siding and in the corners (there’s one right next to my door jamb as well). In the evenings when I come home, they’ll be alarmingly large brown spiders hanging out, but when I move in to open the door they retreat into their little nooks.

    They appear to be uniformly brown, with largish abdomens (not bulbous, just somewhat larger than their bodies) and no discernible markings on them besides their brown-ness. They have thick legs and do not appear to have fur. They all have the cob-webby splotchy webs that don’t extend from their hiding places more than an inch or two.

    After reading on this site, I’m worried they may be young brown widows, but I have not seen any of their undersides to see their abdomens. What do you all think?

  44. Philip says:

    Hi, I am Philip.

    I found a spider outside of my bedroom window. My air conditioner is in the window, and lately, small tiny insects get into my room. After about 2 weeks into summer, this spider showed up and all of the insects suddenly stopped coming in. Gee I wonder why? LOL. Anyway, this spider is catching all of them. I am glad, because it is a help to me, but I hate the thought of possibly having a poisonous spider that close to an opening of my house.

    It has a web that is not very organized, and not in any particular shape. It attached part of its web to my air conditioner, and my window, and it is not organized. It is not in a spiral or any particular shape, its just attached in all different places. I live in southwestern Pennsylvania, and I only see him at night time. I never see him during the day, and I don’t know if he hides or goes out to hunt, I have no clue where he is at in the day, but he is definitely out during the night.

    I will try to send you a picture of him, but my camera flash makes a huge glare. I will try to shine a light on him to get the picture. He has a small pattern on his back. His back is brown, and the pattern goes right down the center. The pattern is light tannish brown, and the rest of his back is a dark brown.

  45. DEBRA G. says:

    I saw a brown spider with a very dark stripe all the way down its back. It was the size of a quarter could you please identify it for me. Thank-you debra gatz

  46. Raul D says:

    Hi,

    I ran across your page while trying to look for information about Identifying spiders. can you tell me what kind of spider this is?

    Spider found by Raul

    It’s about 16mm from nose to tail but i have seen them as big as 20mm.

    Big thanks,
    Raul

  47. Randee says:

    These are some spider egg sacs that I found under the cross rung of my barstool out in my carport one day. Well there was one at first – now there’s two and I would imagine more to come. I researched it and found out that they are Brown Widow spider eggs. I went back to look and lo and behold… there she was, behind one of the eggs. Ya know, if it were anything else, I’d jar it up and turn it loose over in the woods. But I’m not taking any chances with this one. Hate to destroy her – but not liking what I’ve read about the bites and the proliferation of these little buggers.

    Spider and eggs found by Randee

    You can see the back of the spider in this photo – I ain’t askin’ it to turn and smile for the camera if ya know what I mean.

    Randee in Central FLA

  48. M. B. says:

    Hello,

    We live in Mid-Michigan and found this spider on the bottom of toy that had been left in the sandbox.

    Spider found by Melissa

    It was rather large .. perhaps 3 inches from front leg to back leg. Any idea what kind of spider it is?

    Thanks!
    Picture taken 5/31/08

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