The most commonly found spiders are Brown Recluse, House Spider, Jumping Spider, American House Spider, Southern House Spider, Crab Spider, Daddy Long Legs, Gold Silk Spider, Yellow Sac, Brown Widow, and Black Widow.
A tiny weeny creature that can cause a big fuss when around humans is a Spider. If you think your place is free from spiders, then you are wrong. You may find any of these common spiders somewhere in any nook or corners. See facts page.
Here are a few images of each species to help you identify:
Brown Recluse
Color: Light to Dark brown
The Loxosceles reclusa is one of the most common spiders that can be found across Florida. You can identify this creature with their eyes. They have an exceptional pair of 3 i.e., 6legs while others generally have 4 pairs. They are usually light to dark brown and have violin-shaped markings on their abdomen. But this marking might not be found in some spiders. They are found in sheds, any cardboard boxes, garages, and woodpiles. Be careful because they are venomous. Here are some pictures:
House Spider
Domestic House Spiders are found worldwide. They are also harmless to humans like other house spiders. If you find any webs around the corners of your rooms or the sills of windows, then know that it is a Domestic House Spider which is not dangerous at all. These spiders do not like the light at all and that is why they try to remain hidden in the darkest places of your house. Basements, attics, and crawl spaces are their favorite places to reside.
They have long bodies that are not hairy and are straight and flattened. The female Domestic House Spiders have an average length of around 8-12 mm while males are 6-9 mm.
Color: Dark orange/brown
These domestic house spiders are called Tegenaria domestica. They are usually brown or dark orange and have a black mark on their body. Their body is V-shaped below their abdomen region. Usually, you can spot these species in the storage room, basements, or in the cupboard. They sometimes bite but it is harmless and does not cause any pain. Their life span is about one year, but female spiders live for around seven years.
Southern House Spider
There are two types of southern house spiders (Badumna insignia One). has stripes on it and a body length of nearly ½” (13 mm), while the other is solid light brown with a ¼” (6mm) body length. They make their webs in dark corners and upper walls of buildings, barns, porches or sheds at night. They can be found under objects like rocks, behind woodpiles, and in cracks and crevices near the back of a wooden house where they build irregular webs between May to September.
These spiders have very few predators because their web is set up for them; therefore, they will not run from any living thing that comes near while they wait patiently to capture prey to eat.
Both spiders have a light-colored hourglass marking on the abdomen that can be seen from underneath them when they are hanging upside down in the web. The southern house spider is named for being commonly found in the southern United States; however, they can be found all over North America.
Two American house spiders (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) look similar; one has stripes and a body length of ½” (13 mm), while the other is solid brown with a ¼” (6mm) body length. One spends its life hiding under rocks and logs until it builds a web to catch its food, while the other makes its web within a few days after hatching. American house spiders are the most commonly found spider in homes in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. They can be seen hanging upside down over their silk lines.
American House Spider
American House Spiders spin webs at night from late summer to early fall, then again in winter if there is no snow cover. During the day they hide beneath loose bark on trees or rocks, under leaves and debris near pool filters and pipes, or even inside sinks and bathtubs. Their egg sacs can be placed in carton boxes that are kept undisturbed for several months until babies hatch out all at once. The silky brown sacs may have interesting patterns of light lines and dots.
Jumping Spider
Not poisonous and look like this:
Color: Not specific to one. Can be found in a variety of colors
The Jumping Spiders belong to the Salticidae family and comes in varying sizes (usually 15 mm long) and colors (usually bright colored). They are commonly known as saticids. These spiders do not usually build webs but move to hunt their prey. They are found in the buildings, usually underside of the doors or under the furniture or on any hardwood materials.
Hummingbird spiders (Selenops species) are small jumping spiders with a reputation for being aggressive. The body length of the adults is less than ¼” (6 mm). They can be found in the southern United States, but most often they are seen from Texas to Florida.
This spider has a pattern of stripes on its abdomen that may have up to twenty-two lines marked across it. They build their webs at night if there is enough humidity or moisture in the air; however, if not, they will make do with an irregular structure made out of silk only. Hummingbird Spiders eat ants, flies and other insects that land on their web during the day by doing what seems like acrobatics on the web.
Their name comes from their swift movements that make it seem like they are flying when they jump from one place to another in search of food. They look like a cross between an ant and a spider and have long, thin front legs with rows of spines on them; however, instead of eyes in the front part of their head like a normal ant has, they have small black dots close together.
The combination of these two things makes them look as if they are wearing little glasses. With this unique design, it is easy to see why so many people call them “ant spiders” or “daddy-long-legs”. Nevertheless, the scientific names are Selenops spp., which comes from their Latin names seleno for “moon” and opsis for “appearance” or from Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon.
Wolf Spider
Green Lynx Spider
A green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) is a member of the family Oxyopidae that has a ¼” (6mm) body length and an overall color that ranges in shades of light green to dark brown with a pattern of stripes on its abdomen. Like other lynx spiders, it makes large orb webs with zigzag lines in its design at night that are usually seen hanging across walkways.
This spider waits in the middle of its web by day when temperatures are between 70°F and 80°F (21°C and 27°C). It does not leave its web to catch prey; instead, it hides in a silken sac at the center of the web. They can be found throughout North America.
Long-Jawed Orb-Weavers
Another species of spider that resembles the flowerspider and lynx spider in design is called the long-jawed orbweaver (Tetragnatha laboriosa). It has a black body length almost ½” (13mm) and its legs are colored orange to yellow except for near their joints where they are brown.
Like other spiders, it makes large orbs with zigzagging lines across them at night; however, unlike most arachnids that hunt by waiting for prey to come close instead of actively going out looking for food, this one sits in the center of its web regardless of day or night. The webs can be found along forest edges and between shrubs where its camouflage helps keep predators from seeing it; if it moves, it does so very quickly.
The long-jawed orbweaver has been known to make webs almost 20 feet (6m) across in the United States along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to California; however, they are not limited to that area because one was observed making an orb web on a fence post in Tennessee.
Gold Silk Spider
Orb-Weaver (Banana Spider)
Color: Dark brown males, distinctively colored females
The Nephila clavipes are found across the state and also in southeastern parts of the US. The female spiders of these species are the largest orb-weaving spiders in the country. They are about 25 mm to 40 mm in length are have varying colors on their body. The male is 4mm to 6mm in length and is dark brown. These spiders are usually not found in residential but somewhere in the trails. Flying insects are their prey.
Black and Yellow Argiope Spider
(Argiope aurantia), aka the writing spider
The black and yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia) is an orb-weaving spider found in North America. Although the males are very small, females can be 5/8” or 16 mm long with legs extended. The female builds her web at night and sits in the center during the day to watch for prey. She waits until an insect lands on her web before she goes across it and bites its head off, then she wraps the prey into a cocoon.
Sometimes she uses her silk to wrap around thorns and small plants to help anchor her web. Yellow argiopes are more common in the southern United States than black ones because they get their nickname from the yellow band at the center of their webs. They have two bluish-silvery streaks on each side that resemble eyes, which is where they get the name “silver argiope” or “hummingbird spider” from.
The Black And Yellow Argiope Spider (Argiope aurantia) is an interesting looking creature with its black body length almost 1” (25mm) long with bright yellow markings that create a large “Y” across the abdomen and white spots and red zigzagging lines along the side of the legs. The abdomen is different from most spiders because it has a characteristic shield shape with yellow spots along the sides and on the bottom part.
These eight-legged creatures can be found in open areas during hot weather around tall plants where they wait for bugs to wander by so they can capture them and take them back to their web for food. They are not aggressive hunters, but if you disturb their home, then they will bite to protect themselves; however, a bite is not harmful since these spiders do not have any venom that would allow them to easily kill other living things such as human beings or gain sustenance from our blood supply like mosquitoes do.
While many insects fly using natural wings made from protein sources, spider silk is one of the strongest natural substances in the world and is made from special proteins that are able to support the weight of anything from small insects to full-grown humans. The American Natural History Museum claims a spider could lift 200 times its own body weight by pulling on its silk threads; however, what makes this possible is not only their strength, but also their flexibility.
Yellow sac spider
Color: Yellow to beige
Yellow sac spider is found everywhere, worldwide. They are of no or very little threat to human beings. You will mostly encounter them in your house during the cold winter months when they need warmth and food. You can find them hiding in their sacs that are made from silk and are self-made by spiders. These sacs are mostly seen along the walls.
Yellow sac spiders are less than an inch long and are green or yellow. They have a spherical-shaped body. These spiders mostly feed on houseflies and mosquitoes.
They are found in pale, but also varying colors from yellow to beige. You can spot these by their legs. The first pair of legs are longer than the others, and you can see dark tips in the legs. They are found only in undisturbed areas. Otherwise, you can see them in the ceilings and corners.
Let me also show you a few commonly found deadliest spider species found across the state. They are poisonous and their bite can cause harm to human beings, which can sometimes be deadly.
Crab Spiders
Non venomous. Photos:
The crab spider (Misumenoides formosipes) is a member of the family Thomisidae that has a black body length of ¼” (6mm) with legs that are colored orange or yellow except for near its joints where they are brown. One species is known for being common on flowers where it waits upside down in ambush until an insect lands nearby, then it will jump several times as if to get into the right position before landing on its victim. Crab Spiders have been seen on daisies, hollyhocks, blackberry plants and roses. They can be found in the United States; however, they are most often seen from California to Florida.
Other spiders that resemble this species are the flowerspider (Coras gaimardii) and the lynx spider (Oxyopes salticus). The lynx spider has a black body length almost ¾” (19mm) long with stripes across its abdomen that are more numerous than those of the flowerspider’s. Little is known about them because they have only been identified recently as a new species.
A common name for this species is “flowerspider” because it has been observed in Hawaii feeding on aphids on hibiscus flowers. Like other Crab Spiders, they wait for prey in a position where their camouflage makes them invisible to the small insects that land on flowers; however, unlike some spiders that eat pollen and nectar, this spider eats bugs.
Crab Spiders have six eyes and move very quickly across plants looking for food. In fact, their Latin name Misumenoides means “ill-wisher of little flies” because they are known to be aggressive hunters. Their design includes two long curved back legs with tiny barbs on them that make it easier for them to hold onto their prey as they bring it back to the center of the web so they can eat at their leisure without interruption. They are found throughout North America from California to Florida.
Daddy Long Legs
While most spiders move about the environment by moving their two back legs and then their eight front legs, daddy longlegs spiders have two sets of six legs so they can crawl more efficiently than others of their species. Daddy Longlegs Spiders hold onto what they are climbing with their two back legs and use their four front legs to feel for obstacles in order to move as quickly and efficiently as possible. The young have short bodies while the adults have a body length almost ½” (13mm) long with legs that are colored orange or red depending on the species.
Some people call them “harvestmen,” but it is really not a name they prefer since they are spiders that do not spin webs. Their name comes from an old European story of how one killed a spider by grabbing its leg so tightly that the spider began screaming for help until someone came to rescue it; however, who ate whom in this tale is still up for debate.
They can be found on just about any surface in the natural world. If you have ever walked through a field, turned over rocks or done any type of woodworking in nature, then you probably have seen one of these spiders. They are very adaptable hunters and they use their eight-legged bodies to capture prey by moving fast on two legs at a time but never using all eight at once. This is because they move closer to their victim before beginning to eat it.
Brown Widow
Venomous.
Black Widow
northern black widow
southern black widow
Color: Black with red spots
The Latrodectus genus is the deadliest one causing a threat to humans. They are shiny and black with a few red spots found in the abdomen. Only the female spiders bite and the bite can be very painful. The male spiders are dark grey or brown and some have an hourglass body. They are found in furniture, outdoor wood materials, shed, and basements. They are 1 ½ inch in length so that you can identify them easily. Seek medical attention if you are bite by a black widow because they are venomous.
Characteristics of the black widow
The females of this species have the habit of devouring the male after copulation. After copulation, the female spider lays its eggs in a cocoon where several chicks can be born. The female has a black body and has reddish designs, or her body may be greenish or grayish with orange spots. This species feeds mainly on the small insects that are caught in its web.
These spiders can be found mainly in bushes, where they build their webs irregularly. They live in warm temperate climates and are usually not aggressive. You can also find them in tires, shoes, or empty cans.
They are venomous spiders and usually attack when they feel threatened, their venom has a neurotoxin, that is, when injected, the poison reaches the victim’s nervous system. The stinging pain is intense, it is like having the sensation of a pin penetrating the skin causing a burning sensation.
There are also poisonous arachnia species in existence but don’t worry, they mostly don’t attack or bite humans. But still, a few species may be painful depending on the species class they belong to. Others can cause a minor irritation sometimes.
Do not try to identify what species the spider, if it is a poisonous one then you will regret doing it. Spiders sometimes act dead when they are scared.
To get rid of spiders from your home, keep your outdoor objects clean and wipe dust always. Keep your food sources closed. If you are intolerable with spiders, contact a Pest Control Company.
Eucalyptus and tea-tree fragrance keep the spiders away from them. Try spraying them on the doors and windows.
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