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 found this yellow back spider hanging on a web off of my roof-overhang in the Western North Carolina mountains. Can you please help to identify.
Michael
I found this spider yesterday night. He spun this web by the garage door probably to catch the bugs that fly around the light. He is has a width about the size of a cigarette butt. his body length is probably half to three quarters the length of the yellow part of the butt. These pictures are what it looks like with its legs not spread out. These are pictures of the read top of the abdomen.
I found this thing on my bathroom the other night. Freaked me out. Sorry, its not a great picture, but wasn’t about to get any closer to it. It was huge. Its body alone was at least the size of a half dollar. Anyone know what it is?
I am so afraid of Spiders so it was really hard for me to kill it. I live in Escondido near San Diego. Can someone help me identify this spider please? it was black with white striped and a red butt. Should I be afraid? help!
I live in Northern Nevada and saw a spider in the dirt while hiking. Well at least I think it was a spider? It had two sections for its body with dark black legs and its body was fuzzy yellow. Both parts of its body were fuzzy. Any idea what kind of spider this could have been?
Found a brown legged spider with for orange spots and white stripes on the side.
Hey I have the same spiders as Lori and Greg who posted on August 29th, I was wondering if anyone has found out what kind it is?? Its rather large and it rebuilds its web every night, just after dark, and I’ve never seen them during the day. About 2-3 inches from leg to leg, very large web about 3ft by 3ft, sometimes larger. Very strong silk almost like hair or fishing line. It’s an off-white or tan colored with very light markings I cant quite make out.
I have these spiders all over my house here in PA. They’re tan all over and very small. I looked all over the web to see if I could find out what they are and the thing that i found that looks closest is a yellow sac spider. I’ve seen them in my room when I go to bed and I worry that while I am asleep they might bite me. I don’t like to kill anything unless it poses a danger so I’d like to know if it is. I don’t have any pictures but If I can I’ll try to get one with the next one I see.
Thanks!
P.S Selena I am a huge fan! I just saw the VMAs the other day you looked great!
hey i found this spider out side my apartment in southern California between two bushes its web was really strong and the spider was huge it was black with white stripes and had four yellow dots on the bottom of the lower half i’ve never seen this type before, i’ve tried to Google it but got no luck maybe someone here can help me out please?
I found this guy outside on my front porch I can’t font any pictures of it on the web please help I am deathly afraid of spiders.
My girlfriend called me and asked me to see if I could identify the large brown spider she saw with 6 white spots on its back…..we are in Massachusetts
The other day I seen the largest spider I have ever seen in the wild, in my garage. This thing was about 4 inches across including legs. It looked like a mini tarantula..Flippin scary man..My 4 yr old freaked out. Daddy daddy Look At This Huge black spider. Its hairy too Daddy, Its a tarantula..HAHAHAHA..It Freaked me out. Should have taken a photo of it. I believe its a black spider, just huge..Great day all!!
By the way. Ed From Muskegon Michigan…Cant get that huge spider off my mind..Spiders freak me out. This thing was HUGE!!!
Hi all, I’m from Michigan and we found this spider in our bedroom crawling toward our bed. Last week we found the same type at the base of the stairs and one in the basement. It is brown with furry legs and has striping on its back. The front part looks like there are two lobster claws attached. The back has some sort of pointed stinger look-alike. Can you help me out?
i found a very strange spider in my house today. it had a white abdomen and clear legs and head… the abdomen has strange black markings on them that almost made it look like a skull! the spider is very small, about the size of your pinky nail (with its legs). its 4 front legs are longer than the back 4 legs and the spiders abdomen seems to be hard, as if it were a shell! i have no idea what kind of spider it is. the spider is dead now… i have no idea how it died, it just died. i still have the body though. i live in southern new york, near Birmingham and i have never seen a spider like this before.
Hi, I live in Western Washington. I just saw a spider on my drivers side mirror, it was about 3/4 inch long, with a hairy brown body and a single green stripe down its back. Does anyone know what it is?
Came home the other night to discover a new guest by the front door. We live in northern Indiana. Checked on her about an hour later and she was chomping on a cicada. It’s about the size of a quarter and orange/brown color. Seems to be only active at night.
My wife thanks you.
This is in reference to the picture Sandra posted on August 23,2011. That looks a lot like a spider I’ve been watching in my bathroom. It was just one so I didn’t care. But tonight Aug. 30, 2011, he brought 3 of his friends and now I’m nervous. I live in Ulster County NY. I don’t know what species they are or if I should be worried. If anyone knows what I am dealing with please enlighten me.
I found a spider walking on the bottom board inside my bedroom window one night just before bed time. I have never seen one of these spiders before, it had a black head and a brown body.
I have looked at photos of spiders in N. America and have yet to see a picture of this one. I would like to think that I was lucky enough to be the first to have seen a new species of spider, but I don’t think that is the case. if you could take the time and you may have some pictures of a spider that is marked like this I would love to see it or them so that I know that I am not crazy. Actually I know that I am not crazy because my daughter looked at it as well.
Thank you,
Brian Meyer
April T; Without question, that’s a Saint Andrews Cross spider.
Oh, and BTW, it’s not dangerous at all.
I e-mailed (to badspiderbite [at] gmail.com) a photo of a spider we found at the office. We originally thought it was a brown recluse (mainly because it was brown…), however, after a little research, it seems to be too “furry” and lacks other markings. Perhaps you can identify it? (I suspect it might be in the “wolf” family.)
I live in Ohio, on my back porch I seen a really big humped bodied spider, it was white with several black spots on its back, any ideas?
The other night we came home from the store approx. 10 pm at night we pulled in the driveway and I told my husband “OH my goodness!” Honey you won’t believe this…I was looking out my passenger window and hanging down from the Palm tree in our yard was this 3 foot web by 4 foot long….with a huge spider in the middle of it! The spider itself was cream in color with no markings…almost tan…and a round belly it measured approx. 3″ from leg to leg. I have been all over he web trying to identify this spider and the only thing close to it is the recluse with the coloring however it doesn’t completely look like the recluse. I need help identifying this spider if anyone knows what it is. Thanks
Pat,
Send me your picture at badspiderbites [at] gmail.com… I’ll get it posted for you!
Jen
I found two spiders but they are the same looking. I found on outside on my porch and one in my bathroom. The spider is like the shape of a dime and it looks black, brown, red, and white. It looks like a cross on the back of the spider. I have seen many pictures but i cant tell if it is that spider. I need to know if it is poisonous. I have it in a jar and i want to know if it will be OK to let it go and it will not return and hurt my family. If anyone knows what kind of spider this is, please tell me quick.
OK so there is this spider on the other side of the glass from me and i have never seen it before and all i can find is “common house spider” all the sites say it looks like another spider that is very common to Spokane but it doesn’t look like one, i have looked at all the identification charts and haven’t seen it. it is brown with black and white markings on the abdomen, the abdomen is a sphere or well, very bulbous and round not flat like a disc but round like a marble that’s kinda squishy, on the abdomen it has 2 horns one on the left and one on the right, the legs are black and iridescent “white/yellow” striped like a raccoon tail this thing ids the biggest spider i have ever had this close to me when not in a box. please help me identify it, i have no good pictures yet. please help me. sabuulalune(at)msn.com
-ali
Its in my garden in Cleveland, Ohio its about 2in. in length, its bigger than a silver dollar. its body is long and a bright yellow beads like on its back. i mean its body looks like its covered in bright yellow beads. and in the dead center of its back it has a black marking like a long neck alien shaped head with a long neck. and where ears would be it looks like thin looped earrings. or when you first look at it like a black skull. i took pics. but not good at sending this stuff. i will try to get a pic sent to you. I work in my garden a lot and i am 65 and have NEVER seen such a spider. is it bad or good. and do they bite?
I took a picture of a spider and then identified it as a dead spider. You may use the picture to identify this spider. I had 4 or 5 on my wall and they spooked me.
So about 2 hours ago (aprox. 11 p.m.) hubby & I were laying in bed, me facing one way listening to my audiobook and he facing the other watching a movie on his laptop. I heard a sort of quiet but firm pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a sound up near my hand/above my pillow. I grew up with pet rats and it reminded me of the sound they made when they would sneak up on me in bed after hiding in my closet at bedtime…ony I thought it had to many pat-a’s for one rat, they were too close together timing-wise and so I kind of did a grope/peer around the nearby area (without my glasses on). Seeing nothing (no cute ratties) of interest, I tried to reproduce the sound, like maybe my pillow was sort of slipping/skidding along the wall? Nope… so I debated asking hubby if he had heard it but decided not to–sometimes you just randomly hear stuff that sounds weird but actually was e.g. the refrigerator turning on.
2 minutes or less later, I hear my husband say “holy sh**” or something similar while simultaneously sort of thrashing an arm and leaping back from where he was lying.
I asked if he had just heard something crawl past his head, and he said no, it had just CRAWLED ACROSS HIS HEAD AND ARM…and it was big, the size of those spiders we had seen at the lake last year.
So, I hustle-bunned into the kitchen, returned with my critter catching tube (the tube our thistle bird feeder “net sock” thing was sold in), and we got the boy/girl into the tube and capped in with haste.
This spider (probably some variety of fishing spider) is BIG for something found inside. Body is about 3/4 inch long, and leg spread from front to back is about 2 1/4 inches long.
Best we can figure is it came home on hubby’s gear after he went camping last weekend (where those big spiders were seen in the wild), hitched a ride into the house on stuff brought in from the garage in the last few days, and somehow wandered to the other side of the house. Maybe it was asking to be let back outside?
Spider friend doesn’t seem aggressive, it had plenty of potential aggravation and opportunity to chomp one of us (or both). When we saw them last year there were several (3 or more) in the same shrub near the lake shore, with webbing and stuff in the shrub near them.
Wondering if they always come in groups, and if so, hoping that this boy/girl is feeling lonely ’cause none of his/her buddies came along into the garage and house with him/her!
Anyone know anything about this particular species?
She (he?) seems to have a sort of veloured (not fuzzy but not smooth/shiny) body, with an overall tan base color. The front 2 legs sort of shade into dark brown/black, and there are some brown markings on he abdomen and cephalothorax. I haven’t spotted any pictures yet here or on other spider sites that match the pattern closely, but body tye and eyes indicate fishing spider.
We live in the UP (Upper Peninsula, we’re Yoopers) of Michigan, near Marquette (Go Wildcats!), and this is consistently the largest type of spider I’ve ever spotted up here.
Thanks all, hope nothing is spelled too poorly, it’s 1:46 a.m. and I’m a bit tired (hubby is starting to finally be less creepy-crawly feeling-jumpy).
Cheers
Addie
I found this spider in my yard today. I hope these pictures actually post. Please let me know what it is and if it’s poisonous, thank you! The picture above is the top of him/her.
Nice looking spider But I can’t identify it?
i found a spider on my bathroom wall and it looks like a daddy long leg, only i know its not. it has two separate parts and its brown and a long thin abdomen and it has long thin legs like a daddy long leg, but the first two are a lot longer than the rest…….what kind is it?
i live in Virginia too
To Tay – March 19, 2011. Although your picture is blurry, it looks to me like a young brown recluse. A common misconception of the recluse is that if you have them, you never see them…WRONG! They come out, often times in sinks, showers, walls, etc. looking for food. They are hunters. Like I said, the photo is blurry so it’s hard to say for sure, but what I can see looks like a brown recluse. If I am correct, they have the potential to leave you with a VERY BAD WOUND. Extremely venomous and a bite can cause necrosis of the skin. Be very cautious when dealing with spiders. Most are harmless but some can be very dangerous.
Hello I’m Jeremy Barnes and I’m trying to I.D. A spider that usually comes on my house and lives on my porch and it’s a pretty sizable spider to, I would have to say it was bigger *because it was female not male* then what Carl A. spider was but it was in the same color on it’s stomach well basically it was the same Spider but bigger and it’s web was pretty sizable too. And just come to say me and my brother tried killing it but failed I’m worried it might try to come back and bite me or my brother, I am hoping I can at least known it’s species.
Jeremy Barnes,
Thank you.
My son and I found a strange spider in my sundeck today…It is transparent white abdomen with red and white stripped legs it has a black stripe from it’s belly up around it’s back.It is about the size of a quarter when balled up It’s web was very strong and hard to break!!Sorry shocked me so bad no pictures.I live on a farm in Alberta and have for almost twenty years..I have never seen a spider like this before..
First let me apologize for the bad picture quality but I can’t take this guy out of the bag until I know what he is.
Just moved into a new home (south Florida) and I’ve been finding 1-2 of these a week for the past month. Wouldn’t be that troubling except everyone I’ve found thus far is carrying a dozen or so eggs on its back. If I had to guess, I’d say wolf spider but I just moved from NY and I’ve never encountered anything like this before.
We have a 7 week old baby and I am just concerned as to what my course of action should be for this problem.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Mike
Pittsburgh, PA
Only comes out at night and remakes web every night.
Hi, I have a lot of these spiders in my wood shed in Brimley, Michigan. I am not sure what it is exactly and would appreciate any help you could provide.
Thank you in advance,
~Tony
My name is Carrie and I found this friend spinning his small web outside my window 9 days ago. Now his web spans the entire upper half of my window. He has a yellowish brown body with some markings and a weird pattern on his head. Can anyone help me and tell me what kind it is? Some say its a brown recluse. Not sue! HELP!
Hello, I found your website and I’m very glad I did, I got bit by a spider 2 weeks ago it was very small and it had a white blister in the middle it did not bother me at all, but today two weeks later i woke up and it is very red and itchy and I’m a little bit worried it could get worse , i took a pic of the spider if u could help me identify what kind of spider is it, there is a lot of this kind around my house, i live in Tijuana Mexico.
Thank you :)
Hello I am April from NW Wisconsin. I have never seen this type of spider before. I have been googling pics and websites for a few hours now with no luck in identifying it. I just wanted to know what it is and if it is harmful as I have never seen this type before. I found it inside of my car the day after I had had my windows down all day. It was a pretty fast little guy! Thanks for your time.
I’m Ashley from Commerce City, Colorado. I found this spider beside my bed it’s brown and has an orange stripe going down the back of its abdomen the legs at light.brown and where the connect its black any idea what kind of spider it is and is it harmful?
Carole,
If you e-mail me your photo at badspiderbites [at] gmail.com I will post it with your comment for you.
Jen
I found, and accidentally killed a spider that was crawling on my neck. I live on a boat in Seattle, Wa.
It was brown with crooked yellowish stripes on the abdomen. The legs are translucent. I have a photo, but I don’t know how to add it here.
Hello,
I don’t see a picture of this spider anywhere.
Can you help identify. I think it is a wolf spider but it has this strange “V” on it’s back.
Your thoughts.
Sandra
Hi,
I live in Kalamazoo, MI and found this guy living on a web connect from the side of the house to a big flower pot. The web strands are very strong. I cut a couple of them with scissors when clipping the dead flower heads.
Any idea of what type of spider this is?
Thanks for the help!
Tonya R.
Hello:
I found this visitor (see attached photo) on our boat hoist cover in N. Wisconsin. I obviously included my index finger as part of the photo for size reference. Any idea what it might be? I am thinking it might be in the Wolf Spider family.
Thank you.
Carl A.
This spider was pure white! No markings! It looked half the size but exactly like a tarantula. It was covered w well manicured fur, body & on its thick legs. The abdomen was the size of a quarter at least. It was the most beautiful insect i have ever seen…but i scared it away. Please tell me what kind of spider it is & if it could hurt us or very small dogs!
I live in Pennsylvania and was out for a long walk today when I ran into a gigantic web — probably 6 feet across with a a 1 cm across spider in the center. It had an interesting shape and pattern. It had a diamond shaped abdomen, mostly red, with a cream colored intricate design on its back. Do you have any idea what this could be? I’ve been looking everywhere!
I saw a large red spider w/ black stripes & black legs, on my back step, in Maryland. Do u think u can help me identify it? I have no pictures or anything though.
I saw on my neighbors house the other night, it was huge for around where I live, which is upstate new York. It was tannish in color, and about the size of my hand. It’s legs looked bony, so I know it wasn’t a wolf spider. I’m just curious as to what species it is. Ive never seen one that large and it was neat. Thanks for any help!