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Thread: Spider ID, please

  1. #1
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    Spider ID, please

    I know it is a slow worm spider, but SWMBO is coming back tomorrow and I doubt she’ll agree to share the same house as this little thing.
    It doesn’t bother me personally but I would still like to know which one it is.

    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  2. #2
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
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    Male house spider

    https://www.eurospiders.com/Tegenaria_domestica.htm

    Starting to head back indoors as the weather is cooling.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

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  3. #3
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    Perfect, thank you.

    It can stay for now, but will have to hide tomorrow
    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  4. #4
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    This is the species that is often seen running over carpets at high speed at this time of year, allegedly looking for mates.

    Check your shoes if you leave them on the floor. :-)

  5. #5
    a young giant house spider i think, although they are usually more brown than that photo

  6. #6
    Master earlofsodbury's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    This is the species that is often seen running over carpets at high speed at this time of year, allegedly looking for mates.
    This. No allegedly about it: until this point they've been living discretely in some quiet spot, killing pests for you.

    Now, Autumn means higher humidity (many spiders don't osmoregulate very well) but is still warm enough for them to function well, so the males lave their webs to search for females.

    A consequence of this division of labour is what's called 'sexual dimorphism' - the males have longer legs and lighter bodies, which lets them be much more mobile in order to seek-out and find females:



    I'm a lifelong and suitably-ashamed arachnophobe, but I've learned to let these lads and lasses get on with their lives, I live in an old house and they do a useful job. They evolved to live in the outer parts of caves and rocky crevices, so our houses look like home to them, as much as to us...

  7. #7
    Grand Master Onelasttime's Avatar
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    It should be noted that the spider in question is entirely harmless. They can be bloody big though. My daughter is terrified of them, but the cat likes to chase and eat them.

    Be thankful you don't come up against a Brazilian wandering spider:

    Last edited by Onelasttime; 13th September 2022 at 14:44.

  8. #8
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    I delight in telling mrsV every year that horny spider season is on the way.

    (well, it is.)

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by earlofsodbury View Post

    A-ha, thank you. Wife captured a female a little while ago and I didn't recognise it. I think we usually see the males. Thought it may have been some vile new species that had invaded us.

    Nasty beasties. Mum used to call them autumn spiders and would get her friend from down the road to pick them up and put them out. Which she did, until one gave her a nasty bite. Ugh.

  10. #10
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xellos99 View Post
    a young giant house spider i think, although they are usually more brown than that photo
    Interestingly, I believe that the giant house spider is a different species (or even a different genus), although it looks broadly very similar to T. domestica albeit with longer legs!

    The giant house spider is currently known as Eratigena atrica but was previously classified as Tegenaria gigantea.

    There is also Tegeneria parietina with even longer legs. I think I've seen a T. parietina on perhaps three occasions in my life.

    This photo of T. parietina from Wikipedia always horrifies me. Yes, that's a 3.5" floppy disk. Yes, British spiders really do get that big.

    Last edited by markrlondon; 13th September 2022 at 21:34.

  11. #11
    Master smalleyboy1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    Interestingly, I believe that the giant house spider is a different species (or even a different genus), although it looks broadly very similar to T. domestica albeit with longer legs!

    The giant house is currently known as Eratigena atrica but was previously classified as Tegenaria gigantea.

    There is also Tegeneria parietina with even longer legs. I think I've seen a T. parietina on perhaps three occasions in my life.

    This photo of T. parietina from Wikipedia always horrifies me. Yes, that's a 3.5" floppy disk. Yes, British spiders really do get that big.

    Does these stay on the floor or will they climb onto a bed for a bit of an explore.

  12. #12
    Grand Master Onelasttime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smalleyboy1 View Post
    Does these stay on the floor or will they climb onto a bed for a bit of an explore.
    They lay their eggs in your ear while you sleep

  13. #13
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smalleyboy1 View Post
    Does these stay on the floor or will they climb onto a bed for a bit of an explore.
    Beds definitely cannot be ruled out. Lovely.

  14. #14
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    Beds definitely cannot be ruled out. Lovely.
    I've read somewhere that a human eats (average) 23 spiders in his life while being in bed sleeping. (An urban myth I'm sure, but a great story to tell to someone who's afraid of spiders).

  15. #15
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    I've read somewhere that a human eats (average) 23 spiders in his life while being in bed sleeping. (An urban myth I'm sure, but a great story to tell to someone who's afraid of spiders).
    Hehe.... I used to keep a glass of water by my bed but after I considered the bug-related possibilities I switched to a capped bottle of water.


    I was once nearly assaulted by a medium sized Tegenaria in my bed. I was lying in bed and noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. To my horror, I discovered that it was a T. domestica charging right towards me at high speed. I leapt out of the bed as if it had an ejector seat and proceeded to try and kill it. (I usually try to leave spiders unharmed but unexpected bed partners of the eight-legged sort must die).

    I missed it and it disappeared under the pillow and then went under the bed. After taking the bed to pieces and clearing out the junk under the bed, I finally found it again. And lo, it was once again charging directly at me!

    I waited until the last moment, just before it reached my unprotected foot, before applying a shoe in a way it clearly wasn't expecting.

    At the time I thought it was attempting to attack me for some bizarre spidery reason but I now realise it might have somehow mistaken me for a lady spider. So it was very nearly a spider sexual assault.

  16. #16
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    I can’t help it, these bloody things turn me into a screaming 8 year old girl every time. My mrs laughs her socks off at me!
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  17. #17
    Master earlofsodbury's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    ... it was once again charging directly at me! ...

    I waited until the last moment, just before it reached my unprotected foot, before applying a shoe in a way it clearly wasn't expecting.

    At the time I thought it was attempting to attack me for some bizarre spidery reason but I now realise it might have somehow mistaken me for a lady spider. So it was very nearly a spider sexual assault.

    Made me chuckle. It's unfortunate for both spiders and arachnophobes that in the spider's panic they tend to head for whatever their limited vision suggests to them is the darkest place nearby, which is often us - with our shadows and typically dark footwear and clothing...


    I'm surprised this thread hasn't had more smug non-arachnophobes posting, but they are actually a minority. Humans have an innate fear of spiders, and with good reason - at an instinctive level we don't know which species are safe and which can kill - same with snakes. Humans evolved in a place replete with some really nasty spiders, which only get overlooked because there are so many bigger and more glamourous animals (lions, hippos, black mamaba &c &c) that can also kill you! Evolving alongside things that can kill - and 10 million years ago almost any injury was potentially fatal - tends to equip us with instinctive fears 'designed' to keep us alive.

    Even Britain's spiders can give an unpleasant bite - house spiders, orb-web spiders, 'mouse' spiders (not the aussie sort which really are nasty) and woodlouse spiders are all reported to bite, can be as painful as wasp stings, can cause localised necrosis (I have a small bald spot on my leg from a woodlouse spider that got into a sleeping bag years ago!), and, in rare instances, could cause anaphylaxis.

    Little sods!

  18. #18
    Master smalleyboy1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Onelasttime View Post
    They lay their eggs in your ear while you sleep
    Has anyone ever replaced their bed with a hammock? Asking for a friend!

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by smalleyboy1 View Post
    Has anyone ever replaced their bed with a hammock? Asking for a friend!
    Just wear a Balaclava.

  20. #20
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    I see a market for anti-spider earplugs. To be sold alongside snake oil and anti-volcano insurance.

  21. #21
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    My daughters found this sort of time last year in a field near where we live.







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  22. #22
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  23. #23
    Wasp spider, only seen one before last year, had to google it, they have apparently spread from Europe over the last few years

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