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Index Of Spiders By Type

To jump to the details for each individual species, click on the animal’s name.

Mygalamorph Spiders

Funnel-shaped Web Building Spiders

Foliage Hunting Spiders

Space-filling Web Building Spiders

Ground Hunting Spiders

Atlantic Purseweb Spider

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Atypidae

Genus

Sphodros

Species

S. atlanticus

Binomial Name

Sphodros atlanticus

Atlantic Purseweb Spider Images

How To Identify Atlantic Purseweb Spiders

  • Atlantic Purseweb Spiders belong to infraorder Mygalamorphae—the same infraorder as tarantulas. These spiders look forbidding and dangerous. However, they are harmless to humans. They have no interest in biting us unless we harass them into defending themselves with their fangs.
  • As in many spiders, Atlantic Purseweb Spiders are sexually dimorphic, with females growing larger than males.
  • Females:
    • Grow to around 1.0 inches (2.5 cm) in total body length
    • Are solid black
  • Males :
    • Grow to around 0.4 inches (1.0 cm) in total body length
    • Are solid black except for the distal segments of their legs, which are dark, red-brown
  • Both sexes have robust builds with large body segments and thick, heavily-built legs.
  • Extremely large, prominent chelicerae enhance their intimidating appearance.
    • Atlantic Purseweb Spiders’ chelicerae extend forward and parallel to the ground. They can be as long as two-thirds the length of the spiders’ cephalothoraxes.

Atlantic Purseweb Spider Notes

  • Atlantic Purseweb Spiders belong to the “Sensing Web Weaver Guild” of spiders (Rose 2022).
    • Unlike orb-shaped web building spiders whose sticky, spiral webs catch and hold prey, Atlantic Purseweb Spiders use their webs only for sensing prey; the webs themselves don’t prevent prey from escaping.
      • As such, Atlantic Purseweb Spiders are very fast sprinters—they have to be or their attacks will fail.
  • Atlantic Purseweb Spiders spin build long, horizontal tube webs under leaf litter. One end of silken tube sometimes extends above ground attached to a tree trunk or rock crevice. The spiders camouflage the tubes with soil and debris.
    • The web tubes are flexible but strong. Each individual strand transmits vibrations caused by insects brushing against, or walking across, the tubes.
      • Individual spiders wait inside the web tubes until they sense vibration. Then they dart out and bite the prey through the tube wall.
      • When the prey is immobilized or dead from the spider’s venom, the spiders bite a slit into the tube wall. They drag the prey inside the tubes, and feed.
        • As Mygalamorph spiders, Atlantic Purseweb Spider fangs flip forward and thrust straight down into prey as individual spikes instead of pinching prey between the fangs like spiders in the Araneomorphae infraorder.
      • After feeding, the spider repairs the slit in the tube and relaxes until it senses more vibrations that signal its next meal.
  • Individual Purseweb Spiders are known to be long-lived, especially for spiders and other arthropods in general—some females live for 7 years (Bradley 2012).
  • Atlantic Purseweb Spiders spend their lives inside their tube-shaped, concealed webs. Only dispersing juveniles and males searching for mates move around above ground.
    • Look for them in deep woods, especially those with dry and sandy or rocky soil.

Grass Spider

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Agelenidae (grass spiders, funnel web weaver spiders)

Genus

Agelenopsis

Species

A. spp.

Binomial Name

Agelelopsis spp.

  • Grass Spiders in genus Agelenopsis are also known as “funnel web weaver spiders” or “funnel web weavers”.
    • The common English name “grass spider” refers to the preferred habitat in which these spiders live and build their webs
    • The common English name “funnel web weaver” refers to the shape of the webs these spiders build.

Grass Funnel Web Spider Images

How To Identify Grass Spiders

  • Several species of grass spiders live in North Carolina, including:
    • A. pennsylvanica
    • A. utahana
    • A. naevia
  • The most common species is Agelenopsis naevia (Gaddy 2009):
    • Cephalothorax is tan and has a distinct, dark brown stripe on both sides of the center line.
    • Abdomen has a light brown center stripe marked by slightly darker patches that is bordered on both sides by a single, dark brown stripe.
  • Female grass spiders grow to approximately 0.75 inches (1.9 cm) in total body length.
  • Male grass spiders grow to approximately 0.5 inches (1.2 cm) in total body length.
  • Grass spiders can be mistaken for wolf spiders (family Lycosidae) but can be distinguished in two ways:
    • Eye Arrangement:
      • Spiders in both families have eight eyes.
        • Grass spider eyes are small and arranged in two, curved rows. The lateral eyes are closer to the anterior eyes than the median eyes (called “procurved”).
        • Wolf spider eyes are widely separated and arranged in three rows that, if an imaginary line were drawn through the eyes, form a quadrangle that widens out from front towards the back.
    • Spinnerets:
      • Grass spiders have long, prominent spinnerets.
      • Those on wolf spiders are shorter and less conspicuous.

Grass Spider Notes

  • Grass spiders are common in grassy areas throughout North Carolina. They are especially obvious on suburban lawns or in urban parks where turf grass is maintained as part of human landscaping.
  • These spiders build large sheet webs that drape across the grass. The webs include a narrow, funnel-like section that dips between blades of grass.
    • Unlike the capture spiral strands spun by orbweaver spiders, the webs spun by grass spiders aren’t sticky and can’t trap or hold prey. Instead, the strands act like trip wires and remote sensors.
    • The web strands vibrate when touched by passing insects. The vibrations transmit down the web lines to the waiting spider who rushes out to attack.
    • Grass spiders are remarkably fast sprinters. They bite prey immediately on contact, with none of the delicate maneuvering seen in other spiders who can rely on their webs to restrain prey temporarily. Grass spiders must rely on speed and their ability to immobilize prey quickly. Otherwise, their prey would escape.
  • Unlike so many wild animals, grass spiders may be a species that benefits from human presence and environmental engineering. A study that researched the abundance and distribution of Agelopsis pennsylvanica (also a North Carolina spider species). The researchers found more spiders in the urban center, represented by a university campus, than in an urban forest, represented by a city park.
    • However, abundance decreased with increased road traffic, possibly due to the vibrations caused by the contact of car tires with the ground (Pessman et al. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01379-z). Grass spiders rely on vibratory signals that transmit through their web lines. They use vibration to find prey, court potential mates, and evade predators. Vibrations from road noise can potentially swamp the more subtle signals grass spiders need to sense.
  • A gentle brush against their sheet webs can sometimes tempt Grass Spiders to peek out of their funnels. But forceful contact will scare the spider into flight. The funnels open into the grass, which conceals fleeing spiders.

Green Lynx Spider

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Oxyopidae (Lynx spiders)

Genus

Peucetia

Species

P. viridans

Binomial Name

Peucetia viridans

Green Lynx Spider Images

How To Identify Green Lynx spiders

  • Green Lynx Spiders can change colors to match background vegetation.
    • During the summer, their cephalothoraxes and abdomens are bright, leaf-green.
    • During the late summer and early autumn, their bodies change to pale red-brown.
  • Green Lynxes have:
    • Long, semi-translucent legs covered in widely-spaced sharp black spines.
      • Legs are pale in color and can be green, yellow or white but are always spiny.
      • Three claws on each tarsus (the arachnid equivalent of a foot).
    • Tapered abdomens marked with several pale chevrons.
    • Eight eyes arranged in a distinctive pattern:
      • Six eyes form a hexagon shape; two smaller eyes face forward.
  • Unlike the size difference seen between males and females of many other spider species, male and female Green Lynx Spiders are fairly close in size.
    • Female Green Lynx Spiders grow to 0.6 inches (1.6 cm) in total body length.
    • Male Green Lynx Spiders grow to 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) in total body length.

Green Lynx Spider Notes

  • Green Lynx Spiders are powerful predators that attack prey much larger than themselves successfully including potentially dangerous prey such as:
    • Wasps
    • Bees
    • Grasshoppers
    • Dragonflies
  • Green Lynx Spiders are ambush predators that rely on camouflage, surprise rush attacks, and highly accurate, targeted bites to capture prey.
    • They do not spin capture webs like the orbweaver spiders.
    • Green Lynx Spiders wait motionless on tall grass and flowers, concealed in part by matching their body coloration to the plant upon which they rest. They balance on their hind legs, with their front legs raised—a posture reminiscent of praying mantises (Milne and Milne 1980).
    • When prey approaches, Green Lynx Spiders leap upon them and bite the backs of the insects’ heads at the base of their nerve ganglia (Gaddy 2009). This immobilizes the prey. The spiders can feed without risk of injury from the prey fighting back.
  • Look for Green Lynx Spiders in fields with tall grasses and wildflowers.
    • Green Lynx Spiders are well camouflaged. One way to spot them is to look for immobile insects, especially those resting on or dangling from flower heads or seed pods.
  • Juveniles overwinter in North Carolina and mature into adults in early summer.
  • Green Lynx Spiders are extremely beneficial to human agriculture.

Long-bodied Cellar spider

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Pholcidae (Cellar Spiders)

Genus

Pholcus

Species

P. phalangioides

Binomial Name

Pholcus phalangioides

  • Cellar Spiders are also known as:
    • Gyrating Spiders
    • Daddy Long Legs Spider
    • Vibrating Spider

Long-bodied Cellar Spider Images

How To Identify Long-bodied Cellar Spiders

  • Cellar Spiders are distinctive, thanks to their extremely long, thin, thread-like legs that can grow to eight times their total body length.
    • No other group of true spiders has legs that look like those of Cellar Spiders.
    • Arachnids in the order Opiliones (known as “Harvestmen” and “Daddy Long Legs”) also have long, thin, legs, and can be mistaken for Pholcus spp. at first glance. However, opilionids are not “true spiders”.
      • Cellar Spiders are easily distinguished from opilionid arachnids by the shape of their bodies.
        • Cellar Spiders have distinct, two-segment bodies, with long, thin abdomens that are longer that they are tall.
        • Opilionids have round, pill-like bodies without obvious segmentation.
  • Cephalothoraxes and abdomens are usually gray, but some individuals appear yellow-gray.
    • Cephalothorax may have a dark center line.
    • Abdomen is usually unmarked but may have some slightly darker markings on the upper surface.
    • However, the bodies of these spiders are so small that any markings are very hard to see, especially since they hang deep within their large, space-filling webs.
  • Female Cellar Spiders grow to 0.4 inches (0.9 cm) in total body length.
  • Male Cellar Spiders are smaller and grow to 0.3 inches (0.7 cm) in total body length.

Long-bodied Cellar Spider Notes

  • Cellar Spiders have adapted quite nicely to human activity. They live in dark, quiet corners within buildings—especially cellars and basements.
  • As members of the Space Web Building group of spiders commonly living in buildings, Cellar Spiders are primarily responsible for creating the classic “cobwebs” found in buildings.
    • These spiders build complicated, three-dimensional webs that appear disorganized. The strands overlap and fill the space seemingly at random.
    • Individual spiders hang upside down within the tangles until they sense prey.
      • Despite their extremely long, thread-like legs, they move easily through their webs.
  • Cellar Spiders are capable of successfully attacking much larger prey than themselves, including other spiders—even fellow Cellar Spiders.
    • Individual spiders often leave their own webs and actively hunt residents in others.
    • In the wild, wasps pose the biggest natural threat to Cellar Spiders (Bradley 2012).
  • Like some other spiders, especially the Orb Web Building Spiders, Cellar Spiders use sticky webbing to capture prey. But unlike the orbweavers, Cellar Spiders turn their silk into an active weapon, rather than a passive trap.
    • Cellar Spiders approach prey to within a few body lengths, then draw sticky silk from their spinnerets with their long, thin front legs, and throw the strands at the prey.
    • They repeat this process until the prey is completely tangled and unable to fight back. Only then do the spiders approach, bite the prey, inject venom, and settle down to feed.
  • Cellar Spiders shake their webs violently when threatened to send themselves swinging in wild, rapid circles. This makes them nearly invisible and extremely hard to attack.
    • They continue this behavior for several minutes after any disturbance. But strangely, the movement doesn’t seem to effect their coordination after they stop gyrating.
  • The Long-bodied Cellar Spider Pholcus phalangioides may be the most abundant North Carolina spider species in genus Pholcus. But another species, Pholcus manueli, also inhabits the state.
    • Pholcus manueli are smaller overall.
    • However, the two species are direct competitors because P. manueli behaves similarly to P. phalangioides, including how and where they build their webs.
    • P. manueli spiders in close proximity to larger P. phalangioides spiders risk not only being eaten, but risk being displaced from their webs by force as well.
      • In a study that researched the role direct competition can play in whether P. manueli can establish itself in areas already inhabited by P. phalangioides, adult female P. phalangioides spiders won all competitions against adult female P. manueli, including:

Rabid Wolf Spider

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Lycosidae (Wolf Spiders)

Genus

Rabidosa

Species

R. rabida

Binomial Name

Rabidosa rabida

  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The Rabid Wolf Spider’s informal, common English name is misleading. Spiders cannot harbor the infectious microorganism that causes rabies so there is absolutely no risk of rabies associated with these spiders. It’s just a name.

Female Rabid Wolf Spider Images

Male Rabid Wolf Spider Images

How To Identify Rabid Wolf Spiders

  • Rabid Wolf Spiders are distinctive in two main ways:
    • The arrangement of their eight eyes
    • Their body coloration and patterning.
  • Eye Arrangement:
    • Rabid Wolf Spiders have eight eyes, arranged in three rows.
    • The four posterior eyes form a trapezoid on top of the cephalothorax.
      • The two Posterior Median Eyes (PME) face forward and are the largest.
      • The two Posterior Lateral Eyes (PLE) are located well behind the PMEs and on the side, pointed slightly backwards.
    • The four anterior eyes are much smaller and form a row at the front of the spiders’ cephalothoraxes, facing forward.
  • Appearance:
    • The cephalothorax on both sexes of Rabid Wolf Spiders has a distinctive pattern of alternating dark brown and tan bands, with tan along the sides and down the top middle.
      • Chelicerae are pale and carry the same striping as the cephalothorax.
    • The abdomen on both sexes are light tan and have a wide, dark median stripe decorated with pale, paired markings.
    • Adult males have dark brown to black front legs.
  • Females grow to 0.8 inches (2.1 cm) in total body length.
  • Males are slightly smaller and grow to 0.5 inches (1.2 cm).

Rabid Wolf Spider Notes

  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The Rabid Wolf Spider’s informal, common English name is misleading. Spiders cannot harbor the infectious microorganism that causes rabies so there is absolutely no risk of rabies associated with these spiders. It’s just a name.
  • Rabid Wolf Spiders belong to family Lycosidae, which is the most common and widespread family of spiders in North America (Bradley 2012).
    • These spiders are abundant across North Carolina and commonly encountered in all habitats, even within the intertidal zone along the North Carolina coast.
    • They are especially common in areas with tall grasses.

Hunting Technique

  • Rabid Wolf Spiders are Ground Hunting spiders; instead of passively waiting for prey to approach, they course across the ground, actively hunting insects and other spiders.
    • Rabid Wolf Spiders hunt by sight. They have superb vision and can see in all directions, thanks to the unique arrangement of their eight eyes.
    • A foraging Rabid Wolf Spider covers a lot of ground in the course of a hunt, interspersed with periods of motionlessness during which they watch the landscape for suitable prey.
    • Rabid Wolf Spiders are diurnal creatures. They are active throughout the day and hide only when sufficiently fed or to cool down from high summer heat. Otherwise, they dash across the landscape continuously, pausing only for short periods to scan for prey.
  • Unlike many spiders, Rabid Wolf Spiders do not use spider silk to capture or restrain their prey. Instead, they rely on grappling and the immobilizing effect of their venom to overpower other animals.
    • Rabid Wolf Spiders grab their prey, flip onto their backs, and use their eight legs to restrain their prey. From this upside down position, the spiders bite the prey, inject venom, then flip themselves upright quickly. They continue to hold the prey caged within their eight legs until the prey succumbs to the venom.

Impact Of Size Differences

  • Like most spiders, Rabid Wolf Spiders are sexually size dimorphic, meaning one sex is larger than the other.
    • In the case of this species, females are larger than males.
    • However, the size difference between the sexes of Rabid Wolf Spiders is much less drastic than that seen in other spiders, especially the Orb Web Building spiders.
      • Female Rabid Wolf Spiders are 75% larger than males on average (based on the total body lengths), while female Golden Silk Orbweaver (Trichonephila clavipes) spiders are more than 325% larger than the males of the species.
      • The smaller size difference in sexes of Rabid Wolf Spiders is probably due to their lifestyle and predatory tactics.
        • As ground hunters that don’t use capture webs, both sexes must physically engage and overwhelm unrestrained prey.
      • However, larger females have greater hunting capacity than males. Compared to males, they can:
        • Grapple with larger prey successfully due to their larger size.
        • Produce more venom than males due to their larger venom glands.
        • Inject more venom over time before exhausting their venom reservoirs.
      • These anatomical and physiological factors help females hunt more effectively and feed more extensively than males (Walker and Rypstra 2001, https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(2001)146[0161:SDIFRA]2.0.CO;2).
        • This, in turn, provides them with the energy they need to produce eggs—an energetically expensive activity irrelevant to male Rabid Wolf Spiders.

Courtship and Reproduction

  • Although Rabid Wolf Spiders don’t build webs to capture prey, they do spin silk.
    • These spiders lay down thin draglines of silk as they move through the landscape.
    • These draglines form a means of secondary communication between individual spiders. Males follow draglines to locate females, and vibrate the lines as part of courtship behavior.
  • Besides being ferocious and powerful ground predators, female Rabid Wolf Spiders display a fairly unusual level of parental care.
    • Female Rabid Wolf Spiders attach their egg sacs to their spinnerets and haul the cases around with them as they hunt.
    • When the eggs hatch, the spiderlings climb onto the females’ bodies and ride along for a week or two, protected by their much larger mothers.
    • Eventually, the spiderlings drop off the mothers and disperse.