Help Identify a Spider
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.
Hey,
I found this spider in a garden in southern Indiana. Please help me identify it.
please could you help me identify this spider. i live in the uk.
from zoe.
Does anyone know what kind of spider this is?
my mother in law found this spider in her hanging basket in the front of her house. we have been trying to identify it and need some help. it’s brown with a white cross on it’s back. including the leg span it’s approx. the size of a nickel. i’ve attached a picture. we live in northern illinois close to wisconsin. we also want to know if it’s dangerous. thank you.
1.
I live in southern Illinois. my boyfriend was bit last night by a spider that was crawling on his arm while we were asleep. I don’t have a picture because he killed the spider and threw it out. It was the size of a pencil eraser. It appeared to be furry. It was all black except for a tan-brown spot on its abdomen on either side of it. I’ve looked all over the web for a picture that was even close but can’t seem to find one. Can anyone help me identify it?
I live in southern Illinois. my boyfriend was bit last night by a spider that was crawling on his arm while we were asleep. I don’t have a picture because he killed the spider and threw it out. It was the size of a pencil eraser. It appeared to be furry. It was all black except for a tan-brown spot on its abdomen on either side of it. I’ve looked all over the web for a picture that was even close but can’t seem to find one. Can anyone help me identify it?
I have a spider with cream and coffee coloring, with a large black almost square with two bright white dots on the bottom of it’s abdomen spinning a web this evening in a place that is not high traffic, but easily fallen into. It looks much like Donna’s in #7.
The pictures aren’t great but I was wondering if you could identify this spider. I found it in my bathroom in Washington State. I was thinking it was a hobo spider but I don’t know much spiders so an identification and some background information would be very helpful. Thank You!
Thanks for your help in identifying this big spider, approximately 1.5 inches long and living in Atlanta, GA.
Diane
Dave, thanks! I feel much better now! I can live with a grass spider!
Tammi
Please help me identify this spider. I found it along side my hay stack. Its web looked like it went from one end to the other in all different styles and directions. approx. 30 feet long and 2 feet wide. Its styles veryied from flat circluar and simectrical to scattered with depth no real shape definition. The web where i found the spider sitting was circlular flat and semetrical. The picture isnt very good due to the lighting (it was very bright out) and I am terrified of spiders and didnt want to get too close! The spider looked to be just larger than a quarter including leg span. it was a very light washed out brown color with darker banding on its legs. Body shape was VERY similar to a black widow. its underbelly coloring was a little lighter with two rows of six small white squares each. inbetween the squares was a wedge of dark brown. I thought it could be a young or different type of widow.
I see a great deal of photos and replies about the supposed brown recluse spiders. Of the pictures I’ve seen, only one maybe two are of the brown relcuse. The others are as Dave #437 has said, simply common grass spiders(north american funnel web, garden spider), Completely harmless. The brown recluse is often mistaken for the grass spider, but on futher inspection it is easy to see the difference.
#433, That too is a grass spider. It’s harmless, big and creepy but harmless
#22, That spider is called the north american funnel web, not to be confused with the Australasian funnel-web spiders that is the deadly. It is commonly known as the grass spider and is completely harmless. Believe it or not it is one of the most common spiders found in homes across america. It is very timid and will hide if given the chance so that is why they are rarely seen. If you look at your bushes outside, you may see large webs as we all have, more likely that is from a grass spider. The one in your picture is a male, becuase the female almost never leaves it’s web. He was probably looking for a mate and nothing more. There are likely many of those in and around house, very large in size. If you are creeped out by that may I suggest spraying the outside of your house and then bug bombing the inside.
I don’t have a picture.
Uhm, i was on the bus, in the UK and this huge black spider was crawling on my friend, it was a bit bigger than a 50 pence piece, black, had huge legs, a smallish body, and ran as soon as it hit the floor.
Scared the bejesus out of me.
#433 – I have one posted (#404) just like this one – the dead variety. I live in North Alabama. This is the second one I have found in my house. I think it is a garden spider or wolf spider, but have not confirmed. I don’t think that either is dangerous – just too big to be in the house! They don’t seem very aggressive, but I’m hoping a spider expert will soon reply!
Tammi
This spider was found in Atlanta, GA and had spun a huge web overnight in the front door frame. I’m sending a photo. We would love to know what kind it is and if it’s dangerous. The spider was approximately 1.5 inches long. Thanks! Diane
Can you please help me identify this spider? We live in N.W. Georgia and found it in the garage on the bottom of our work bench. Could it be a wolf spider?
Want to know if anyone can identify these 2 inch furry black spiders with a hard upper shell and feelers in front that are half the size of its legs. I recently foung three of these in my home in Corpus Christi, Texas. Please help.
Hi I have an up-date to my comment I am 99.9% sure my spider that I found is a white cross garden spider. It looks exactly like #7 on the bottom but on top it has white dots in the shape of a cross.
I found a spider on our pick-up truck that is just like #7 one person said it was a garden spider on here but I just want to make sure. Any help on this woould be great thanks in advance! Oh btw I live in central Wisconsin
To #7, #8, #26, #29, maybe #37 and those referring to it as an “argiope”:
These spiders are Orb Weaver spiders (family Araneidae) which create the spiral wheel shaped webs that most garderners find. An Orb Weaver has eight matching eyes, legs are hairy or spiny and no stridulating organs.
Here is a website to help you find the spiders you need! Btw the black spiders with red on their backs are called Austrailian redback spiders, also known as the austrailian widow. Look them up to see if it is the spider :]
I’m having a hard time finding my spider myself
#401 & #377, That is the same spider I have encountered; When I stumbled upon it, it did not seem agressive at all. I am concerned that this is not your average house spider though, and also want to know more details regarding the species. Was this spider aggresive towards you? If either of you find out any details, please let me know. I have also posted a picture of my spider this morning. Thanks!
I found this spider at my Son’s preschool while dropping him off thismorning. It was definetely in a web, and the butt resembled a 3D kind of bubbly wasp butt…I have never seen one like this. I live in Santa Monica, CA. Can anyone identify it??? I would like to know if it is posionous, as it was on the school grounds. Thanks!
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Hi, I live in south Africa and I just want to find out what type of spider this is, sorry the foto’s is bad but its all I have, the spider is black and its small and it jumps, I just want to know everything about this spider because I see them all around the house.I do have banana trees in the garden are there any spiders there that could harm me?
Hope you can help me.
Thanks.
Chantal
just took these in southern california. Our yard is infested with these things i spray they come back.
The babies are everywhere little ones i’ve never seen anything like this before
I found this today in my hostas. Do you know what it is? I live in southern New Hampshire.
Any info you have would be great.
Thanks, Kelley
Found this spider in my backyard floating alive in the pool…..I live in southern california, and lately I’ve been seeing a variety of spider species this past year that I’ve never seen before around my front yard and backyard. It’s like they all decided to move in at the same time. I have kids that play in the back all the time, is this spider venemous?
Thanks,
Ryan
scrp21ryn @ gmail.com
Jim & Other Arachnid Fans:
I posted yesterday but do not see the comment here so I’ll try again.
I’ve lived on the west coast of south-central FLA (south of Tampa/St. Pete) for over 30 years and am familiar w/ the local flora & fauna. However, over the past 2 weeks I’ve had 3 sightings of a spider that I’ve never seen before. Sorry, no pics, but I’ll describe in detail.
Sightings: once early morning after sunrise w/ full web, once pre-dawn w/ full web & once mid-evening (fully dark) spinning web. seems to be HIGHLY secretive as s/he “looks” at me and then the web is literally gone in less than an hour.
The Arachnid: S/he’s a dull greyish-brown w/ no other discernable markings, abdomen symetically round about 2mm wide, not particularily hairy or spiked, legs are similar in shape & proportion to a common house spider w/ very faint banding, total diameter w/ legs splayed 4-5mm.
The Web: Outer boundries are rectangular (4 anchors; 2 on the ground & 2 on the roof over 10 feet high) w/ the classic spiral about 2 feet in diameter. During the pre-dawn sighting my teacup chihuahua literally bounced off of one of the anchors & came back in immediately.
Now I’ve had my fair share of run-ins w/ black widows & brown recluses (caught one last night & sent him about his merry way in an empty lot across the street ), but i wonder if this is some kind of central or south american transplant and if it’s venomous. Haven’t seen s/he in a few days but will ensure photos will come when able. Any input is much appreciated.
The kids saw the spider just outside our house in Irvine, Ca. I killed it with a hornet spray. I’ll get it to poison control tomorrow for identification. Brownish with white stripes, orange hourglass on belly. Legs are light and dark brown alternating.
#409 Vicky,
Hi,
From the shape of the spider and style of markings, I would probably say that that one is a Castianeira descripta, otherwise called a Red-Spot Ant Mimic. I can’t be too sure since most pictures I’ve seen show a shinier body than the one in yours, otherwise it comes pretty close. I wouldn’t worry about it being a redback, redback females have a “widow” body (big round body) so the shape in your photo would be wrong for a female redback. Male redbacks are actually a light brown color with white markings. Either way – both genders of redbacks have the hourglass on their underbellies – so if it’s not there – chances are it’s just the ant mimic.
Found spider in the shady side of an orange tree in Sacramento, CA. We watched it kill a dragonfly. The abdomen is 6×12 mm. We are sending two pictures.
Hi there. A few weeks back I was bitten by something (I think).
At this point it is a spot about the size of a quarter. It is the color of a pale, fresh bruise and the edges of it are raised, though it does not seem swollen. It is not hard, but soft-ish, and the raised edges and one spot on the dead middle are usually crusty (as if covered in dry skin) and sometimes bleed a little. Sometimes it because extremely itchy and remains tichy for the next hour or so, despite scratching.
I think it has gotten bigger since I noticed it and it has caused some concern among my parents. I cleaned it with peroxide and covered it with a bandage, but it hasn’t changed much.
Does this sound like a spider bite?
This spider lives in the seed house at our nursery. It eats butterflies and has recently built 3 ‘felt buckets’ ! We fear lots of babies and would like to know if it is dangerous. I live in Cyprus.
Many Thanks
i live in grant county kentucky and i was outside moving wood to another place on my farm and as i was puting a piece down i seen this huge spider about 4 inches in diameter and it was brown and had black spots and it was fuzzy. its legs were about 1/4 of an inch in dia. and i am deathly afraid of and kind and size of arachnids and now im scared to go move wood again oh and it had a kindof white sack under it or it might have been its belly i dont know i wasnt getting close enough to find out and i tried killing it but it ran away so please tell me the name of this spider and if it is harmful or not. thank u
i live in southern california, a couple of weeks ago my sister and i found a unusual spider on its web hanging upside-down in a corner in our backyard. First we thought it was a black widow ( we once had one on our shower, so we figured ) we told everyone and we thought just to leave it alone. So in the morning we saw it was gone, at night it came back. we thought it would leave every night and crawl back around 9:00. but 3 days later we saw that it was just hiding in a corner and saw 6 eggsacks! we got so scared! we did some research and found out that the spider was actually a brown widow. we found out they were not very poisonous. We thought we could leave it.but we still wanted it gone. But my sister saw a baby spider crawling the next day. We didnt know how many days the eggsacks were there, we know they hatch in about 20 days.
We thought it was one of her her babies. later that day we put the brown widow (that we named luisa) in a jar with her eggsacks in another. she is playing dead a lot, trying to trick us into letting her out. But i know that spiders play dead a lot. We just left her and she would just stand there. Sometimes would crawl around. She has yet to make a web and really, i think just wants to know her eggsacks are ok. When we show them to her she calms down. But a jar is no place for 6 eggsacks that will hatch and make over 200 spiders per sack. What shall we do with the eggsacks?
#89 Chris I’m not a hundred percent sure but it looks alot like a wolf spider,according to some research I did it is not harmfull.It may cause mild pain,swelling and itching.
I live in Peyton Colorado. One of these spiders was in my wall trying to get out where the light switch is. I saw its legs coming out around the plate and let it out. The body wasn’t so big is the only thing.
This one was on my porch. What is it?
Hi,
I had a spider fall on me last night from the ceiling, I think by accident, then it scampered off my bed so fast I thought it jumped. I have a picture, but only after I’d smashed it because it scared me so badly, so it’s pretty unrecognizable. I’ve never seen anything like it, though I don’t have much experience with spiders. It looked to me like a weird daddylongleg, only MUCH larger. The body was about an inch long, maybe just a bit longer, about 1/2-inch wide, and the legs were very long and thin like a daddylongleg’s. The coloring was a sort of greyish-brown on the body, and I couldn’t tell the color of the legs. The light wasn’t really that good and it wasn’t a pretty sight. It didn’t bite me or anything, but the sheer size of the thing scared me half to death, it was about the size of my hand (I have small hands). I keep looking and I can’t find anything at all like it anywhere on the internet, so can someone either try to help me identify it or link me to a site that might help? Thanks in advance!
~Saya
Vicky,
The spider you found is a Redback Spider, it’s native to Australia. It resembles the black widow spider and it is a member of the genus Latrodectus or the widow family of spiders, which are found throughout the world.
The female is easily recognisable by its black body with prominent red stripe on its abdomen. Females have a body length of about a centimetre while the male is smaller, being only 3 to 4 millimetres long. The Redback spider is one of few animals which display sexual cannibalism while mating.
Redbacks are considered one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia. The Redback spider has a neurotoxic venom which is toxic to humans with bites causing severe pain. There is an antivenom for Redback bites which is commercially available.
Hope that helps!
This spider was crawling on the bathroom floor. I love spiders and am usually not afraid, but this one scared me. I can not identify it.
The red markings are on the back not the underbelly. I live in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Thanks,
Vicky
The spider was white with a round “abdomen”. I live in Northeastern Ohio and no bite appeared but it hurts.
forr #121 wayne that is a brown recluse spider plz be careful around it cuz it is dangerous to us dont mess with it and for camlio lopez look at #121 thats a picture of a brown recluse spider
for #72 michelle and #22 rachel that is not not a brown recluse spiders those deifferent kinds of wolf spiders their not harmful unless messed with brown recluse spiders dont have strips on them around their eyes theres a shape of a violin its goes for all spiders if you see one dont mess with it you never know which one danerous to us
Hi, I found this spider while working in upstate New York. I have never seen one before and was wondering if you could help me identify it. Thank you very much.
I’ve been to this site once before and it was very helpful. So, here I go again. I live in North Alabama and this is the 2nd time I’ve seen this huge spider IN my house. THe first was in the spring and it was a surprising addition to the toliet bowl (in the water) and the 2nd was this morning! Both times, it was near the door that leads to the garage and to the patio. Not real sure how they got in. Can you identify and tell me if I need to worry? It’s two front legs are extrememly black and the other legs are not. It is a long body with a yellow’ish stripe – and with it’s legs full out, it was over 2 inches in diameter!
Thanks – Tammi
I looks just like number 7.
We found this spider climbing on a cabinet in our kitchen… I’ve never seen anything like it, and it was kind of scary. We live in Northern Mississippi. If you know anything about this, please help us ID it. : Larger spider with HUGE green back with some zig zag pattern on it.
#377
I live in Bellingham, WA. We live more on the east side of Bellingham and more in the woods. We have the exact same spiders that invade the outside of our house. They range in size I think just depending on age. Yesterday, I know this might make people angry, but I went on a killing spree with a stick! They make webs that string from the bushes across pathways onto the house, and across doorways, and it is horrible when you try to walk out to your car and you are being attacked by these spiders! Anyway, I’m not sure what kind of spider they are, but I don’t like them. I don’t know if they are dangerous but I know they are hard to get rid of. We had an exterminator that came out just last week, and the spiders have only gotten worse since then! Let me know if you find out any info on them, especially on how to get rid of them!