Spider ID anyone please?

[HillBill]

Hi Folks.

Spotted this handsome little beastie trying to sneak its way into our house earlier today. Anyone know what it is? It only has 5 legs, so looks like its been through the wars a bit.

It was perhaps a little larger than a 2p coin.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Harvestman]

That is the nursery-web spider, Pisaura mirabilis. Distinguished by the yellow central stripe on the cephalothorax (front half) and habit of standing with the front two leg pairs very close together (right side of spider only, due to having lost three legs). Also the pointy abdomen. This specimen is a female, and looks in reasonable nick despite being leggily challenged

That is one seriously battered spider! Probably not fully adult from the size you indicated.

Very common beastie, but very nice, and not usually a house spider unless it wanders in from the garden.

 

[squishy]

nice to know what it is, but i wish it would hurry up and disappear from the front door!

 

[JonathanD]

That critter has certainly been in the wars.

 

[Harvestman]

nice to know what it is, but i wish it would hurry up and disappear from the front door!

Just pick it up and move it. It would be happiest in some long grass, and is very unlikely to bite, even if you used your hands. I wouldn't have the slightest hesitation in picking up one of these, or with letting a small child handle it. They are very placid.

 

[HillBill]

She won't go within 10 ft of a spider. money spiders are "cute" apparently, even though they are one of the few species that can bite.

Cheers harvestman, i used to really dislike spiders, never feared them but my mum did and i think that made me very wary of them. Lately though im not, i find myself intensely curious about them. I had a giant house spider jump on me a few months back, no bother, just caught it, put it in a jar and took it outside. This was the bugger, its leg span was as big as my palm.

Soz Rach, you wont like these lol

Just pick it up and move it. It would be happiest in some long grass, and is very unlikely to bite, even if you used your hands. I wouldn't have the slightest hesitation in picking up one of these, or with letting a small child handle it. They are very placid.

 

[Harvestman]

That's a male Tegenaria, almost entirely legs. They can bite, but usually won't. Lovely pics.

They can run like blazes, but once they run out of steam and slow up a bit they are easy to handle, and are a great way to show children that spiders are not scary, since that is abut the biggest spider you are likely to see in the UK.

 

[HillBill]

I do find them fascinating. The web that spider is in isnt its own. I put it down outside and it run up the wheelie bin and got caught in another web....dumbass lol. So i used the opportunity to grab these pics before it broke free.. Biggest spider i have seen in the UK. Nothing compared to the ones in French Guiana though.

 

[squishy]

Spider's are evil, don't care what anyone says

and he may have said 'no bother' with the one above, but he did scream like a girl and jump a mile when I said it was there on his shoulder!

 

[HillBill]

Oi, perfectly natural reaction to having something jump on your shoulder that from that position looks to be the size of a small car.

Spider's are evil, don't care what anyone says

and he may have said 'no bother' with the one above, but he did scream like a girl and jump a mile when I said it was there on his shoulder!

 

[Harvestman]

I have great sympathy with male spiders in particular.

There is a myth that the female spider will eat the male after mating.
It is isn't that she won't eat him, it is the 'after mating' bit that is the myth.
Unless he's careful she will just eat him.

Generally speaking the female is bigger than he is, and thinks he bears a close resemblance to lunch, and she's always hungry. He has to get close enough to mate with her.

Male spiders generally don't live too long.

 

[HillBill]

Yeah its one that always made me wonder why we still have spiders

Thinking with their loins lol, not too dissimilar from humans then

 

[madkipper]

I love spiders here are some i keep.
Red Rump

[/IMG]
Zebra beauty

[/IMG]

 

[HillBill]

I could never have one as a pet. If i did, i would need another pet that was able to eat it if it ever escaped lol.

 

[Harvestman]

Lovely beasties Madkipper.

 

[Robbi]

bloody horrid things !

 

[Harvestman]

bloody horrid things !

No, that's people...