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.
Today as i was taking my car to get it washed i noticed there was a super white spider just standing on my arm. Me i have dealt with my reaction to these insects i stayed calm knowing that some are venomous i just used my index finger to pick it up and put it on the sidewalk. I have no idea what type of species it was or anything but i would really like to know what type it was.
I got stung by a spider that looked like it had a yellow strip down it’s back . It wasn’t a brown recluse.. When it stuck me it felt like I had been stuck with a pin followed by burning. It got red and there was a circle where it happened. There is no mark where it stuck me. It doesn’t even look like I have been bitten by it is burning and it has been since I got bite.
My wife has seen allot of spiders in our basement but can’t figure out what it is maybe you can help. We have a one year old so we would like to no if it’s poisons, it’s orange and sorta see threw thanks for your help
Hi I have been seeing black spider that are huge on my doors in the front. They are black w/ yellow stripes. Please help me if I see one soon I can post a pic and I’m in illinos
I found a spider tonight that REALLY freaked me out… I, of course had to wake up my ‘Marine’ husband to protect me!! He was also amazed at the size of this thing. Neither of us have seen one like this in person. It was pretty large compared to the numerous amounts of spiders that we
typically see. We found him hanging out on our sliding glass door in-between the screen and the glass. We live in Central Virginia near Fredericksburg in a wooded Lake community. Please, if anyone knows of what this spider might be, let us know. We have 2 babies in the house and it really bothers me that they could be in some sort of danger is this spider is indeed dangerous… Thank you! Trying to attach a picture to this post & it won’t let me… Anyone know how?
I live in Northern Virginia. Found this dude crawling up my kitchen wall. Leg span is slightly larger than a quarter. What is it?
Me and my friend were clearing out leaves and trash on the west side of syracuse new york and we kept finding the same spiders Danielle is talking about on january 12 bright red body w a white sac tht exploded slime when killed. we had to find like 10 of em all different sizes. not scared of spiders but these give me the creeps. saw one like 3 years ago too. please help i cant find a thing online
I found this one black-shiny-looking spider with what looks like a hammer or like a bubble blowing thing in the middle of its back. Can you help me identify this spider i killed it i just want to know what it is. This spider was found in my room in a corner near my workout bench and its sort of small.
i found a big light brown to black spider in my basement it has a single white or light yellow line going down the back of its head. can anyone tell me what it is
These spiders get giant and are found on my back porch in Clearwater, FL. They run around and eat other bugs. They are fast and I never see a web anywhere. WHAT IS IT!!!!!
I found a spider in my apartment, and I have been getting bit. The spider looks like this one exactly. What is it??
TO JOE FROM SE LOUISANNA FEB 2012
you have a widow in your pic. there are several kinds but yours look like a black widow ANY SPIDER WITH A RED DOT ON THE BELLY IS A WIDOW AND IS A VENOMOUS SPYDER , NOT GOOD GO TO ER OR DOC. RIGHT AWAY, IF BITE !
Okay, so 2 days ago I saw this black spider in my room crawling on my window blinds & freaked out ’cause – well, I’m arachnophobic & it seemed pretty big to me & I almost froze. I don’t have a camera, not even a camera phone, to take a picture of it with should I [unfortunately] see it again so I can’t post a picture; I can’t even find a picture that even slightly resembles the spider I’m talking about. All I know is it’s fairly large for a spider (probably an inch or longer), it has a completely black body, fuzzy legs & torso. I just need to know if it’s venomous as I found it crawling on my leg earlier today, before losing it once again in my room. I’m still shivering….I already know it’s not a black widow, wolf spider, or brown recluse as I’ve seen them before; the problem is (among other problems) that I live in Southwest Virginia, Big Stone Gap (to be exact), & am in desperate need of information relating to any venomous/nonvenomous spiders in my area that the internet doesn’t seem to have or want to share with me. (I also have GAD, so I’m probably freaking out more than the normal arachnophobe.)
I found this spider in my house quincy illinois its small light brown with a diamond shape on its back. Looks like it kinds hard no hair.
can u tell me if this picture is a spider bite or another bug bite need to know am a diabetic have picture can u help
I found this spider in my backyard, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I think it’s a St. Andrews Cross, but I didn’t think those spiders are indigenous to Oklahoma.
Any help you can give me would be great. Thanks!
I live in Washington and wanted to know what kind of spider this is. Can you help?
I have two young kids in the house and found two spiders of this species crawling around inside.
Could you please identify these spiders?
I live in Sullivan County NY and have 2 children who have recently have had 2 visit the Dr. For “spider bites”. The area turns red, hot and forms a “boil” filled with puss and blood. We have noticed several black spiders some with white on them. They move Very fast and can sometimes range from the size of a pea to the size of a quarter.. Any ideas??
I live south east of Portland, Oregon in a wooded area. Tonight I went out to our garage/barn and found this spider hanging out on the sliding door. I’ve had a hard time identifying him, but these pictures should give you some good detail about shape, size and color.
This spider lives in my back yard. I live in Ohio. My house is in a housing development that Is 12 yes old. What the heck Is it?
Holy cow! any clue? Found In my basement, by wife, which will never be visited again by said wife…. We live in State College PA. Easily two inches long leg to leg.
I’m in England and found this spider in with some grapes the come from Greece. Ive spent ages trying to find it online but with no luck. Here are some photos. Its in a glass and as you can see its small it could fit on the nail of my little finger, any ideas?
Can you help me identify this spider?
Can you identify this spider? Its made its home on my porch and I’m concerned it could be venomous.
Can you please help me to identify this spider? I have seen two so far- one dead and today found this one alive. Made a web on outside of my window, on the porch. My 3 year old son plays out on the porch all the time so I am afraid if the spider is poisonous. Any information would help!
Found this spider outside the garage in Keizer Oregon. Hints of brown on the upper belly. Can you identify it?
Found it in my mailbox. several more in yard. Any clue what it is?
This is a picture of a spider and web that I found on my tomato plants. I live in mid-Michigan. Any chance you could tell me what it is? I would appreciate it.
I live in central Florida, along the east coast. There is preserved swamp type land behind my house. Throughout the summer neighbors have been clearing out the underbrush growing amongst the pines and palmetto backing up to their yards. Since then I have noticed many of these spiders outside in our screened enclosure and more recently inside the house.
I have been in this home for 10 years and have not seen much of anything beyond the occasional Daddy Long Legs. These big ones do not build webs (that I can tell) and some carry large white egg sacs. They are quite large and move very quickly. I am concerned that these spiders may bite. There are several children living in the home and I am faced with them constantly both indoors and outdoors.
From what I can tell they are Wolf Spiders, but I want to be sure so that I’ll know how to approach them if they’re biters. Thank you for your assistance.
This guy showed up on my back patio. Her body was a little over an inch long and overall 2″.
Just curious to know what my new bug catcher friend is?
Can u tell me what kind of spider this is?
This little guy (not so little really) is hanging out between my neighbor’s and my driveway.
Belly is about the size of my pinky nail, and it’s pretty intimidating.
Front and back pictures attached.
Should we be concerned about this guy?
What is it?
I cannot seem to find what kind of spider this is! Hope you can help me! In the photos it seems to have tiny brownish/golden spots on its back..in person it looks pure black velvet. It has a small strip on its head, a whitish color..which wasn’t helpful for me because they only have pics of ones with stripes on the back. Thank you in advance if you can help me out!
I found this spider in my house I don’t know what kind it is.
I didn’t see any spider like this on your site but I could have missed it. It is on a friends of mine in northern Utah on her tomato plant. Your help in identifying it would be much appreciated.
Hoping you can help with the identification of the spider pictured below. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you for your time and help.
What kind of spider is this?
We have found several of these spiders in our apartment and my wife dislikes them scurrying across the floor. Can you tell me if it is a funnel spider or something about it??
I’m trying to ID this spider that has recently taken up residence on front porch.
My husband found a group of spiders at his job site and was told later they are poisonous. I’d like to find out what kind of spider it is. Description: body black and husky kind of like a tarantula. Had green fangs and has 3 blueish greenish dots on back that when viewed upside down kind of look like a face. The total size was about 3/4 of an inch. Can you tell us what this is?
hi my name is Stephanie i found a small nickel sized spider in my kitchen. i couldn’t grab a pic of it but it was all black and had a small white line down its head and back. i’ve seen the same kind weeks ago in my bathroom but it ran away before i could kill it both times. i have no idea what kind of spider it was i tried to look online but couldn’t find the same thing. so now I’m asking please help me. i don’t know if hes dangerous or not and when i tried to touch the thing it backed up and it faced me and like tapped the ground jumping back a little what spider is this?
the spiders you see that have zig zags in the middle of their webs and are big with 2 legs going up and 2 legs going down are called “writing spiders” a golden orb weaver also known as banana spiders and garden spiders. the old saying is that if you say someones name in front of this spider, it will weave that name in its web and you will die. like the spider from Charlotte’s web. she was a writing spider. and yea i would keep the kids at school away from those bushes.
hope i helped a little.
I found this lovely (sarcasm) brown widow right at my back door yesterday. I live in Lake Forest, CA. We get a lot of spiders here, actually, and especially black widows, but I was surprised to find a brown widow. I didn’t even know such a thing existed!
The poor lizard in the pic is alive and I did rescue it after killing the spider. Sad, I know. But, the last thing we need is a poisonous spider right by the door and the possibility of one of us or our animals getting bit. Honestly, we have a widow problem here at the house and it scares the be-gee-bees out of me :P I wear rubber cloves to take the trashes to and from the curb even. I’m not a spider fan, but I can tolerate them. I’m a Texas girl so I’m used to tarantulas, but not sneaky stealth deadly spiders like this. EEK GAD!
I was washing dishes one day and felt something on my leg. I felt a sting right before I slapped it off my leg. i thought i got bitten but i didn’t have any marks or side effects. i took a pic of it but my phone was to close so the flash made the background blue but u can see the markings on it perfectly.
I saw this spider on the side of my house and I was just curious as to what species it is and if it’s venomous. Your help is greatly appreciated. Please and thank you.
I found this under a towel, any clue what it is?
I found this spider on a jeep I bought, and can’t find any info on it. I live in Colorado, but the jeep came from Texas. The jeep has been here for a few years though. I don’t know if it would have survived here coming from Texas, so I think it’s native. Thanks for taking the time to check it out.
I have no clue what kind this is. It’s web is right above our porch light and I’m just curious. I am pretty sure that it has an egg sack above it too. Thanks in advance!