Closest I can find is the long jawed orb spider, but not usually found in urban areas?
Does have some impressive jaws and fangs though.
Gents
Can someone ID this spider found on one of the roof areas over the entry lobby at home (Southwest London). It apparently bit one of the children who lives here and they had a nasty reaction.
Closest I can find is the long jawed orb spider, but not usually found in urban areas?
Does have some impressive jaws and fangs though.
I'd say it was Tetragnatha Stretch Spider or long-jawed orb web.
It seems very unlikely that a bite would result in an adverse reaction to the venom - it would be far more likely to be an infection following scratching of the bite location.
If it's spun a formless web with lots of long threads and is on a ceiling or maybe in the corner where ceiling meets the wall, it could be Pholcus phalangioides – which 'shake' their bodies and webs as a defence mechanism when disturbed. There's one on my landing ceiling which I observe – it made short work of a wasp last week which was caught in the randomly threaded web. After wrapping the wasp in silk and sucking its innards the spider's abdomen swelled to twice its 'unfed' size. Spider then 'hugged' the cocooned wasp for a day before release. Try blowing on the spider to see it then vibrates / shakes. They prefer an indoor habitat.
Spider on ceiling with cocooned wasp prey – before eating same
Last edited by sundial; 9th September 2023 at 18:38.
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