AWESOME ARACHNIDS

Pumpkin Spice

I was locking a door at work when this little guy suddenly dropped down by my foot.

AS: that’s an immature Black widow, though she looks like she’s almost an adult :)

Hi there! I found this big guy/girl (not sure which) hanging around my front porch this morning. I’d love to know what species it is. :3 I’m in Austin, Texas, if that helps.

AS: It’s a male Barn spider, a kind of orb weaver :) you can tell he’s male by the tiny abdomen and large rounded ends to his pedipalps where his mating claspers are :)

I typically enjoy Buzzfeed.  This kind of crap annoys me though.  Why are you spreading misinformation and adding to “arachnophobia”?   Those are not “massive fangs”, they are his pedipalps- it’s what he uses to mate with females.  And he certainly wasn’t trying to attack anyone- probably just trying to flee.  

The spider was found hiding inside its nest on a banana leaf. I picked it up and took some close up pictures. It was very peaceful. I’m not sure whether it’s dangerous or not. I hope you can provide me with some information about this type of spider along with its ‘scientific name’. Thanks in advance. Northern Algeria.

Hi, Charif! This lovely lady is my first spider from Algeria, I think!

I recognized her face but it wasn’t until I started looking around that I knew which family she was in- Eresidae, where you can find the ladybird spider and that one spider that was named after Lou Reed. I checked every genus recorded in Algeria, specifically, but none of them matched up. So I looked at spiders that could be found in northern Africa and I’m pretty sure I found her- Stegodyphus.

This genus is known for having a few species that are social spiders and for mothers of one species- the European S. lineatus- providing their newborn babies with their first meal- her. I can’t seem to find any definitive ID sites, ones that go into good detail, but I think she might be Stegodyphus dufouri. All the images I found of her are very good matches, though I couldn’t find any links with info exclusive to S. dufouri.