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Aren't these also known as wolf spiders? Cute little buggers and largely harmless to humans?
Hi Scrat,
Not the same as wolf spiders (Lycosidae). I used to think that too, but after my frequent experiences with them (described in an earlier post) I did some research and found that they are Pisauridae, commonly known as fishing spiders. There are a few species of them, and some of them are common around streams but don't stand out for any reason. The guy that was posted by the OP tends to be a big one though, and put the fear of God in me the first time I flipped a stone and it ended up on my hand. Yikes!
Lycosidae (wolf spiders) can and will bite. I collected a few one time and put them in a clear plastic cup to observe them. They are a fangy critter and you could see the drops of venom on the sides of the cup. I've been bitten and I know others who have been as well, and it can be painful. You are right though that they are harmless and they are attractive.
Cutest spiders I think are the Salticidae (the jumping spiders that Woodrow LI referenced). They present themselves as a curiously wide-eyed fuzzy little critter, and they are adorable. There are a lot of great images of them floating around the internet if you have some time for googling. If they were going to make stuffed animal spiders for kids I'm sure that these would be the top contenders.
My favorite 'big spiders' are the Argiope spiders (commonly known as garden spiders), and Araneus (commonly known as barn spiders or orb weavers).
Regarding the Argiope, around here we have banded and black and yellow. We have meadows full of them here, and they are diurnal, so you see them during the day. They are hard to observe because they drop out of their webs when you approach. They just free fall right out of the webs, it's neat. One of the really cool things about them is that they tend to orient their webs east-west, and they climb up so that their bellies face south so that they can sun their bellies (their bellies are darker). So you will see a meadow with all of their beautiful and quite large webs oriented exactly the same way. It would probably be unnerving for an arachnophobe though, they are pretty big. They also have a zigzag reinforcement that they spin into the web called a stabilimentum. The stabilimenta are said to not only be a reinforcement, they also serve the purpose of reflecting ultraviolet radiation and white light. This has two purposes; the first is to attract pollinators, and the second is to provide enough visual surface area to prevent birds from zipping through and destroying the web.
The Araneus spiders are nocturnal, and they are the ones that make your neighbors scream when they walk through the webs while taking the garbage out. They can be very large, and they tend to spin webs across areas that receive light at night to intercept insects. The barn spider (Araneus cavaticus) is the spider that was featured in Charlotte's Web. My son adopted one outside of our house a few years ago and named him 'spider buddy'. We used to watch them build their webs, which is fascinating because of how perfect they are. They like to keep a tidy house too, if you take a dried piece of grass and throw it into the web, the spider will come down and will actually pull the grass out and 'throw' it away from the web.
Spiders exhibit some really cool behaviors when people take the time to slow down and look closely. They are fascinating creatures!
Not the same as wolf spiders (Lycosidae). I used to think that too, but after my frequent experiences with them (described in an earlier post) I did some research and found that they are Pisauridae, commonly known as fishing spiders. There are a few species of them, and some of them are common around streams but don't stand out for any reason. The guy that was posted by the OP tends to be a big one though, and put the fear of God in me the first time I flipped a stone and it ended up on my hand. Yikes!
Lycosidae (wolf spiders) can and will bite. I collected a few one time and put them in a clear plastic cup to observe them. They are a fangy critter and you could see the drops of venom on the sides of the cup. I've been bitten and I know others who have been as well, and it can be painful. You are right though that they are harmless and they are attractive.
Cutest spiders I think are the Salticidae (the jumping spiders that Woodrow LI referenced). They present themselves as a curiously wide-eyed fuzzy little critter, and they are adorable. There are a lot of great images of them floating around the internet if you have some time for googling. If they were going to make stuffed animal spiders for kids I'm sure that these would be the top contenders.
My favorite 'big spiders' are the Argiope spiders (commonly known as garden spiders), and Araneus (commonly known as barn spiders or orb weavers).
Regarding the Argiope, around here we have banded and black and yellow. We have meadows full of them here, and they are diurnal, so you see them during the day. They are hard to observe because they drop out of their webs when you approach. They just free fall right out of the webs, it's neat. One of the really cool things about them is that they tend to orient their webs east-west, and they climb up so that their bellies face south so that they can sun their bellies (their bellies are darker). So you will see a meadow with all of their beautiful and quite large webs oriented exactly the same way. It would probably be unnerving for an arachnophobe though, they are pretty big. They also have a zigzag reinforcement that they spin into the web called a stabilimentum. The stabilimenta are said to not only be a reinforcement, they also serve the purpose of reflecting ultraviolet radiation and white light. This has two purposes; the first is to attract pollinators, and the second is to provide enough visual surface area to prevent birds from zipping through and destroying the web.
The Araneus spiders are nocturnal, and they are the ones that make your neighbors scream when they walk through the webs while taking the garbage out. They can be very large, and they tend to spin webs across areas that receive light at night to intercept insects. The barn spider (Araneus cavaticus) is the spider that was featured in Charlotte's Web. My son adopted one outside of our house a few years ago and named him 'spider buddy'. We used to watch them build their webs, which is fascinating because of how perfect they are. They like to keep a tidy house too, if you take a dried piece of grass and throw it into the web, the spider will come down and will actually pull the grass out and 'throw' it away from the web.
Spiders exhibit some really cool behaviors when people take the time to slow down and look closely. They are fascinating creatures!
I agree they are fascinating and the Jumping spiders are adorable. Cute little things if you take the time to look at them. I found they can be semi-tamed and you can get them to take flies out of your hand.
My kids often made "pets" out of them. They would stay on the same window sill for days, as long as the kids were bringing them flies.
Sadly there are some Black or nearly black Jumping spiders and folks are convinced they are Black Widows and squash them on sight.
the fishing spider looks to be a pretty close match. it's too leggy to be a jumping spider.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodrow LI
I agree they are fascinating and the Jumping spiders are adorable. Cute little things if you take the time to look at them. I found they can be semi-tamed and you can get them to take flies out of your hand.
My kids often made "pets" out of them. They would stay on the same window sill for days, as long as the kids were bringing them flies.
Sadly there are some Black or nearly black Jumping spiders and folks are convinced they are Black Widows and squash them on sight.
I once kept a gravid female Phippidus audax as a pet for around 8 months. it produced 2 egg cases and I sold many of the spiderlings on the internet for 3 bucks a pop
Thanx NJ. I've always found spiders fascinating creatures myself. Where I live I encourage them because I live in the vicinity of a lake, pond and river which ensures a lot of winged insects inhabit my area. I leave the porch lights on at night and 8 to 12 house spiders will build large webs among the framework of my covered deck to catch the bugs going for the lights. I see some Salticidae types too among the rocks and in the garden, small (2-3 mm) fuzzy and very dark in color.
I appreciate them because I would be over run with winged insects without them. There has to be thousands of them out there too.
Thanx NJ. I've always found spiders fascinating creatures myself. Where I live I encourage them because I live in the vicinity of a lake, pond and river which ensures a lot of winged insects inhabit my area. I leave the porch lights on at night and 8 to 12 house spiders will build large webs among the framework of my covered deck to catch the bugs going for the lights. I see some Salticidae types too among the rocks and in the garden, small (2-3 mm) fuzzy and very dark in color.
I appreciate them because I would be over run with winged insects without them. There has to be thousands of them out there too.
Don't overlook the value of the dragonflies though, they are mosquito hunters extraordinaire!
All spiders are venomous, lets just put that out there. However, most spider venom is completely harmless to humans. I get so tired of people saying "that spider isnt venomous", etc. Really? How do they kill and consume their prey if theyre not venomous? Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine. lol
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