Spider Identification Guide
Use this page to help identify a spider by comparing its size, color, markings, and body shape with our library of spider pictures.
Below, you can also browse visitor-submitted spider photos and identification discussions. While not every match is exact, these examples may help narrow down what you found.
If your concern is a possible bite rather than the spider itself, see our spider bite pictures and treatment information for additional guidance.
Spider Identification Chart: Match What You See
Find the row that sounds most like your spider. A description alone can never confirm a dangerous species, but it can tell you what deserves a closer look. Where you live matters too, since most species keep to known ranges.
| What you see | Most likely spider | Dangerous? | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shiny black, round belly, red hourglass on the underside | Black widow | Yes | Black widow guide |
| Tan or brown, dark violin mark behind the head, plain uniform legs, six eyes | Brown recluse | Yes | Brown recluse identification |
| Tan or brown widow shape, orange hourglass, spiky round egg sacs | Brown widow | Mildly | Brown widow guide |
| Brown or gray, hairy, a lighter stripe down the back, hunts on the ground | Wolf spider | No | Wolf spider guide |
| Black, fuzzy, compact, with a white or orange dot on the back, moves in jumps | Bold jumping spider | No | Jumping spider guide |
| Brown with chevron markings on the abdomen, builds a funnel-shaped web | Hobo spider or another funnel weaver | No, despite the reputation | Hobo spider guide |
| Bright silver belly, hangs under a flat web near water | Silver orb spider | No | Silver orb guide |
| Large yellow-and-black spider with a zigzag band in a wheel web | Garden spider (Argiope) | No | Garden spider guide |
| Long yellow body, golden silk web strung high between trees | Golden silk orb-weaver, the banana spider | No | Banana spider guide |
| Glossy brown, round belly with faint pale marks, messy tangle web indoors | False widow (Steatoda) | Mildly, often mistaken for a widow | Compare photos |
| Bright green, long-legged, in gardens and orchards | Orchard spider, sometimes miscalled a green widow | No | Dangerous spider overview |
| White or yellow spider sitting motionless in a flower | Crab spider | No | Compare photos |
| Huge, fast, tan, in desert country, not in a web | Camel spider, not a true spider at all | No venom | Camel spider facts |
Two honest cautions. First, color and markings vary inside every species, so treat the chart as a starting point and confirm against real photos. Second, range matters more than people expect: a “brown recluse” spotted far outside the central and southern United States is usually a lookalike, most often a wolf spider or a funnel weaver.
If your real question is about a bite rather than the spider, start with the spider bite pictures and bite identification chart instead.
Reader Encounters: Identification Wins From the Archive
Three condensed reader stories that show identification working the way it should: calmly, with a container and a photo, and without anyone getting bitten.
Shawn: the doorway monster was an orb weaver
Shawn walked out his front door into a quarter-bodied spider hanging six inches from his face in a web the size of a card table, and retreated indoors with, in his words, a few choice expletives. With the porch light on it turned into a scene from Charlotte’s Web: a big orb weaver calmly eating a moth in the middle of its wheel. Another reader on this page identified it for him. Startling, harmless, and gone in a few days, which is the usual orb weaver story.
DeeJay: the spiky egg sacs gave it away
DeeJay’s mailbox, wash bucket, porch chair, and bike seat all turned out to be hosting widow spiders, and the round egg sacs covered in spikes, like tiny naval mines, are what identified the brown widows. With an immune-compromised daughter at home she could not fog the place, so it became patrol work: flip the furniture, check the undersides, crush the sacs. The spiky sac is the single most reliable brown widow tell, worth knowing anywhere they are spreading.
Addie: the pat-a-pat in the dark
Addie heard a soft pat-a-pat-a-pat near her pillow at night and talked herself out of it, until it crossed her husband’s head two minutes later. The tan, velvety spider with a two-inch leg span went into a bird-feeder tube and got a portrait taken: a fishing spider, almost certainly a stowaway from a camping trip, big enough to be alarming and harmless enough to release outside. Catch, photograph, compare, release. That is the whole method, and nobody had to get close.
I live in Brooklyn, NY and there are a couple of these guys (or girls) in our backyard. I haven’t bothered this one (this is two pictures of the same spider) and I don’t think she’s dangerous but we’re not sure. If anything, just thought you’d like to see this one. She creeped me out at first but I think she’s really pretty now!
Thanks for your help!!
-Patrick
Hi, I found the attached spider today. It has a red shell and white markings with brown and tan legs. I live in Ottawa, ON Canada and have never seen anything like it around here. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks.
I live in Aurora Colorado and have these spiders that I have only seen downstairs. It is Bight Bright red and the butt is tan. the butt is the smallest part of its body. What type of spider is this? Should I be worried?
Last night:
My picture from last night looks alot like #7, and I believe Chad V. #429 answered my question as to what this little gem is- I seem to have an Orb Weaver residing right outside my front door. It was quite startling at first- I was rushing out the front door last night when there, waiting to greet me was this robust-bodied thing hanging about 6 inches in front of my face! It was dark so I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I flinched backwards (with a few choice expletives…) and retreated back inside with the storm door closed. I then turned on my outdoor light and it was a scene right out of Charlotte’s Web! There was this huge detailed web that was literally blocking my entryway door! The proud owner was sitting smack-dab in the middle eating a moth! The web must’ve been about 3ft by 2ft. I’m glad I got my camera but I regret not getting a picture with respect to anything. It’s bulbous body was near the size of a quarter! I never really saw it’s legs stretched out, but it was impressive- much larger than any spider I’ve seen here in Minneapolis, MN. When I went to capture it in a box, it made several violent lurches towards me like it was going to attack… pretty aggressive little guy!
A spider bite last year:
I’d like to include some pictures of a bite that I sustained last year from what I believe was a Northern Black Widow. About this time last year, I was pulling wood from a large woodpile in my backyard for a fire. I never saw the perpetrator, but I suspect it crawled up off the wood while I was carrying it, and it bit me. No doubt, exactly where a vampire bites- on the side of the neck! (This was directly over the gland area immediatly under my left jawbone.) I had a few drinks that night, so I didn’t notice anything until the next day when the effects of the bite became fairly dramatic. There was a large red swollen area on my neck which continued to swell throughout the day. My face started getting numb and droopy, and I complained about it at work when a coworker (an Environmentalist) told me there were two definite fang marks on the left side of my face. He said I likely got bit by a spider. The jury is still out on what kind of spider it was- but I did a little research and Northern Black Widows like to hang out in woodpiles, and they do leave prominent tell-tale fangmarks such as mine… Anyway, if anyone has similar symptoms from the bite of an unseen perpetrator, you can see the scary pictures of my face and judge for yourself…
This is Sara i just emailed you i meant The Pictures from Laura #462. What is that??
Hey I have a question, I read and seeing pics from Laura #461 from Ca, What kind of spider is that, that she has cause i live in Milwaukee Wi, and I found that SAME spider as odd as it sounds????
Sara
Here’s a photo of a brown spider found in Portland Oregon this month.
I was cleaning out in my backyard and the grass where I was is about 1-2 feet high. I almost put my hand on this spider and I think it bit me. It was about 4-6 inches long and it was brown. It had a silver butt and I never have seen one like it. What was it???
I live in the Columbia River Gorge area of Oregon. (Cascade Locks, OR)
This spider was crawling across my desk this morning.
Any ideas what it is?
Thanks,
Kat
Sorry for the poor quality picture, I hope you can help me with it. We have seen a lot of these spiders in hour house in the last few days, usualy see them this time of year but not this many in the house. They are about quarter sized, the largest was larger, to me looked almost half dollar size. (I am terrified of spiders so not positive on the largest size since it was squashed)
The largest spider was aggressive, my son almost stepped on it then backed away, the spider ran at him, he moved to other side of room and it kept following him, he grabbed a book and sqaused it. I believe it is the same kind as the one below which I killed with Raid.
Can you tell us if these are poisonous, what kind of spider and how to get rid of them please, like I said before normaly we might see one or two a year but have seen dozen or more in few days in the house.
Thank you very much for your help and your time.
Lea
P.S. If it helps with info, we live in Junction City, Oregon
Hi. I tried to send this about a week ago, but the picture didn’t go through. I hope it does this time. My spider kind of looks like #571. Is it dangerous? I live in the Piedmont area of North Carolina if that helps any. Thanks.
you still in the business of identifying spiders? this one lives outside our window in brooklyn, ny. thanks.
#120 — no that is not a Brown Recluse. That is almost certainly a Giant European House Spider. I have seen dozens of these guys in my apartment in Florida, and they can grow as big as your hand. I am told they bite but it’s nothing serious. They’re just scary. I one time saw a dark shape moving across my couch out of the corner of my eye and I thought it was a rat — turns out it was a Giant European House Spider. He could clear the entire length of my couch in about six or seven seconds, which is pretty fast. Takes half a can of Raid to kill one too.
Several comments on here were made by someone identifying photos as “brown recluse.” These identifications are not correct. I looked at all the photos on this page and none of them are brown recluse spiders that I can tell. Most of the brown hairy looking spiders with the black markings on their backs are either Wolf spiders, Hobo spiders, Grass spiders, and varieties usually referred to as House spiders. The Hobo is the most serious of these, but unfortunately it’s not possible to identify a Hobo from a Giant House spider, for example, without a microscope and a lot of professional experience. In the South there are Giant European House Spiders which have these same markings but can grow as big as your hand.
They are quite nasty to see walking across your couch. (I know, I’ve had dozens of those in my apartment when I lived there.) Brown Recluse is actually a fairly rare spider. I have lived in Connecticut, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Florida, New York and Massachusetts, and I have seen everything from Black Widows to common Garden spiders, and everything in between, but I have NEVER seen a Brown Recluse (which we were taught to identify in Boy Scouts). Brown Recluse is the most serious spider to encounter, even more than Black Widow, so it is best to learn what it looks like.
To Michael T #560
This spider is called a Green Lynx Spider-Peucetia Viridans.
Here is some info I found on them:
Lynx spiders get their name from the way that they sometimes pounce on their prey in a catlike fashion. These spiders spend their time hunting for insects in bushes and low plants. They are fast runners, but can occasionally be seen lying in wait for prey beside flowers.
They build no web for prey capture, but they do release a silk dragline as they hunt among leaves.
While the Green Lynx spider aggressively attacks its insect prey, it very seldom bites humans.
my wife found a spider almost identical to that of #8 it has yellow bands on legs and and it’s second pair of legs is longer than the others. Also on its back/butt it has two raised bumps. They are almost directly above where the last pair of legs joins the body. Leg span approximately 1 to 1 1/4″ has what i think are large spinners on the front of it’s head. We live in northern mid-michigan, city of West Branch area if that helps… We look forward to hearing what it is and plan on releasing it back in the woods soon. Tried taking pictures but they just came out too dark to see any of the detail i have just described..looks ALOT like #8 though.
thanks in advance
Curtis
Hello,
I found this spider in my bathroom. I didn’t see a web. I am in south-east Arizona. Does anyone know what it is, and if it is poisonous?
Thanks,
Erica
#412
I don’t think that is a spider but rather a wind scorpion… I live in Albuquerque and we have them and they look like a spider.. They have another name though but we call them wind scorpions.
Ashley
Sorry I ment #573
Hey #578
I think it is a garden spider…. If it is then it is not harmfull at all just scary… but double check. I had done some research when I had found a spider in my yard and it kept coming up with that…. but I still could be wrong. Hope this is of use to you…. Also what I read said they are not aggressive…
Ashley
ok… I live in the panhandle of Florida I was cleaning a window outside my employers house and found a destroyed wasps nest in front of the window and was sweeping the mess when i noticed a nest of dead spiders among the mess, we were wondering what they were…
they were maybe the size of a nickel and had no fur but had red legs and at the end of the legs were black and yellow bands and on the body (particularly the butt) had a shape (on the back or top) that looked similar to a diamond or a cross with small horizontal line that was yellow when the rest of the body (not the legs) were black… I wish I could have taken a picture in but I’m so scared of spiders that i was more worried of them coming back to life (i know, weird.) maybe someone can help; I can’t find a picture among local Florida spiders… Please help I want to know if they are poisionious in case I find more…
just found your site, love it. i was infested with some strange spider last year and have yet to identify it. if i see more this year ill take a pic and send it. i could identify alot of the spiders but could not find a place to reply. most of the spiders were a breed of wolf sider, there were a few orb webs species, one rosehair, and multiple widows(alot of ppl dont realizer there are 5 species of widows)and a few more i recognized.
Hi –
I found this spider on my garage door. I live in Manhattan, IL. It looks like the spider posted in #20….but, I didn’t see any comment as to what it was or might be. My husband knocked it down with a broom and tossed it in the vacant lot next to us. Just curious as to what it was and whether or not we should have been concerned about it.
Thanks much!!!! Carol B.
Hello, I was bitten by this gent a month or so back. The bites are just now healing. Is there anyone here who can help identify it?
(For Scale)
The bite, a week or so advanced.
Thanks.
-Greg
I live in Northern Arizona about 15 Miles North of Prescott in Chino Valley. I have been seeing alot of little black spiders that are furry and have red butts and maybe some white spots on their legs. I am wondering what kind of spiders these are and if they are dangerous at all. I have an 8 month old son and I have killed 6 in my house just yesterday. Please let me know if I need to worry. Thank you so much. Nicole
I live in Oregon and I was watching television with my brother the other night. Out of the corner of his eye, a huge! approx 3 inches BIG! rounded the corner from the hallway like a dog! I have never seen such a huge spider before. I know many people exaggerate the size, but I am not kidding. It was the length of my index finger…My brother tried to smash it, over and over and it stood back up like nothing happened. He finally grabbed a heavy shoe… I didn’t get a picture, but I am so freaked out and scarred to go to bed! We bombed the entire house with a total of 9 bombs!
Has anyone heard of a spider inside that is that large? I thought it was a prank.. but it was very real. Any help would be great. I am concerned like most a) what it is? do I need an exterminator? or b) is it poisonous?
i saw this spider outside my door the other day and i dont really like to kill them as long as there outside but i just wanted to make sure its not dangerous. i’ve looked it up and i think it is a wolf spider but thought you could give me a more definate answer.also i noticed that there were babies on its back how many can one spider produce?
Hi-
I saw your website and I’m hoping you can help me identify this spider. I found it sitting on top my clean folder towel in my bathroom, which is in the finished basement of our home.
Thank you.
Marissa T.
ps;
I forgot to add that is is only about 3/4″ big, but I trapped the spider in a clear container so I could take a picture.
A very large spider has taken up residency in our small back yard enclosure. We live in a townhouse apartment in Colorado Springs.
After looking closely at the spider, I did some searching on the web (pun intended). I came to the conclusion that our spider is an Orb Weaver/Grass Spider. However, we did not find any pictures that exactly matched our specimen, but it’s web structure does match that of an Orb Weaver. It has shown no aggression, but my husband will not allow the kids or the cat outside until he knows for certain what this is. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Rachel B.
This fella stopped by my job at a laundromat in Garfield, NJ this morning. He was just walking along the floor, i dont know where he came from. He was pretty quick, but he stopped long enuff for me to take a pic of him. Can you please identify him for me?
Thank you, Cathy H.
Can you identify this spider? I found it on my neighbors house. I live in Northeastern Indiana.
there are several spiders making webs outside my window. they are all the same, and theres about ten of them. they are all very small, no bigger than a quarter, they are a teal looking color with bright orange on their back and bottom and i was wondering what kind of spider they are?
if you could send me any information i would appriciate it very much, sorry i do not have a photo.
Hey Tom #501, I’m in East Mesa Arizona (by the desert) and I’m sure it’s a brown widow. I have a ton of them living around my house. I looked at #64 and it looks like a possible wolf spider, but it’s hard to tell without me looking at a clear shot. There are all kinds of wolf spiders. If it has a web than it’s not a wolf spider it’s something else.
rick
#64. October 10th, 2007 at 9:58 am
I found a spider in Michigan that looks like #64, photo and email sent in by the fellow above. Can you tell me what it is. The coloring and shape was very similar but with a more bulbous body.
This guy is living near my front door. We live in the Phoenix, AZ area. Can you tell me if he is dangerous??
THanks!
Christi
Also if you think it’s a widow check the stomach if it’s red it’s a widow. Also test the web with a stick if its’ sticky and doesn’t give easily then it’s a for sure widow.
Hey wade!! #482 the web is for a funnel web spider almost looks like a wolf spider, but has a funnel web. They are poisonus as far as I know, but google funnel web spider. I see a whole lot of wolf spiders on here though. Especially the ones that have the large front ends. Wolf spiders do not have webs, and they carry their babies on their backs. Upon application of raid they purge the baby spiders. I see a couple hobo spiders on here too. I found out that I have red widows living in my house!! Damn spiders!! OUT!!
We’ve had a few of these in our house, and my wife is getting worried about our 15 month old boy getting bit. Can anyone help identify this spider, and if its bad. Also, what to do about them? I’m fine with just living with them (they kill mosquitos!) but my wife is scared to death and waking up at night now because one was on the windowsill next to our bed a few weeks ago. We live on the west side of Wisconsin along the Mississippi River. Any help / advice greatly appreciated.
#442???
Does anyone know what the spider was from #442?
We just saw one in the backyard (at night) on a HUGE web. We’re in City Island (NYC).
I live in Little Rock AR and I found a spider with a brown boddy and red legs with 4 white dots on its belly. What kind of spider is it? Is it deadly?
i was wondering if you could help me identify a spider i an allegic to. they are the size of a pin head and red or orange and found in both PA and texas.. i only know they are in texas because i have been bit by one again..
I found the following large green spider eating a wasp. I wish I had a bunch of them because I really hate the wasps. Is it harmful in any other way? Thanks.
I live in the central GA. area and I am being over run with the brown widow. About a month ago, I saw something moving in my mailbox when I reached in to grab my mail. After I bent down to look, I realized that it was a black widow.
2 days later I found a brown spider in my car wash bucket but didn’t think too much about it – just figured it would drown when I put the water in. I poured the water out when I was finished and saw the spider with the bright orange spot. I hadn’t heard of the brown widow so I wasn’t too alarmed.
Then, last week I was going to sit on my chair on front porch saw these funny spiked eggs through the wire mesh of the seat bottom. Curious, I flipped the chair over and when I tried to remove them this HUGE spider dropped out and rolled up in a ball. After searching the internet, I discovered that I had a brown widow. Since then I have killed about a dozen egg sacs and about a half dozen spiders. I am sending pictures of the eggs and spider I found under the seat of my Schwinn – and the spider I manged to put in a jar to take pics.
My daughter suffers from an auto immune disorder and receives Remicade infusions every 8 weeks to keep her in remission. A bite from one of these could put her in the hospital – at the very least.
I think these guys are cross breeding too- found a black widow with the spikey egg sacs. I know it not only looked like one but came out of the web looking for a fight!! The brown ones I find always curl up in a ball – playing possum. I can not spray heavy pesticides as they make my daughter sick – is there a natural predator for these spiders? Since they are not from this country and take a defensive position when disturbed, I wondered if they had a natural predator in the country they are from and since they have none here they are breeding out of control… my neighbors on either side have also discovered the egg sacs but had no idea they were widow spiders.
Today I found another brown widow in my mailbox. I am doing all I can to reduce the numbers of these things but feel I fighting a losing battle. I will continue to kill them as I find them but I think I am only making a small dent in the population.
I would appreciate any information as to how to rid myself of these spiders… I am pressure washing the house this weekend and hope to disturb/destroy any that have set up house on my house.
Hello,
I found this spider near my garage. It was quite large (about 3 inches) and just hung out in it’s web. Any idea of what it is? I saw some pics of a St. Andrew’s Cross Spider on your site and think this may be one. Are they dangerous??
~Eileen
Hi I see spider only at night in my back yard. He re builds a web every night. There is 2 of them they are whitish in color with black & white striped legs. They are quite large larger then a quarter I will send you a photo.
I forgot to tell you I live in South Florida & I believe #544 Brianna G has the same scary spider.
Hi I see spider only at night in my back yard. He re builds a web every night. There is 2 of them they are whitish in color with black & white striped legs. They are quite large larger then a quarter I will send you a photo.
I recently woke up one morning to discover I had nine points of entry on my buttocks and thighs, that looked like little pimples. I thought a bug had bitten me from sitting on the ground at an outdoor gathering. Two days after, most of them were swollen huge, red and hot to the touch. They were also very painful. I went to the clinic and explained to the doctor that felt I was bitten by a bug. Any way I was treated with fourteen days of antibiotics and painkillers, while at least four of the sores drained pus profusely. After two weeks I discovered another such pimple. Could I have bitten by a brown recluse so many times in one day in the same general area? I have seen a spider on two occasions since then but cannot say for sure if they were brown recluse spiders. As far as I can recall they actually looked almost transparent but the abdomen was really dark in color. Could they have been brown recluse spiderlings?
Candi J.
#89
THAT IS A WOLF SPIDER WHITH ITS WHITE AND BLACK COLOUR AT THE BACK.AND WHAT IS THAT THING NEAR ITS FANGS?
I posted a coment on here about a spider on my front porch. But apparently the picture didn’t go through. But anyways, it looks identical to #522, except mine is a darker color and has a light tan shape of almost a hourglass on its back. The legs were striped just like #522’s. Does anyone know what this spider is and if it is dangerous?
Recently I removed a quilt from the closet to use on my family member’s bed. It had only been there for 2 or 3 weeks. Today while tidying up, I came across a pale tan/white spider around 3/4 of an inch long with two very distinctive dark or black stripes running vertically (pointing at the head). Should I be concerned about it? Or is it just another pest.