Spiders are a common arachnid found just about anywhere. They are so common that you might just stumble upon one doing your everyday tasks. Though some people may find them creepy, they are an important part of the natural ecosystem as they consume insects potentially found in your home.
They are generally docile creatures who do not attack unless they are provoked, so if you find one in your home, it’s best to leave them be.
Now, if you are currently caring for an arachnid, you may be curious to know what spiders can be found in your home. The following list contains five of the most commonly found spiders. Soon, you will be able to identify these eight-legged friends by their different traits and tricks!
Orb weavers
Orb weavers are one of the most well-known spiders out there. These are the spiders whom you commonly see making entrancing, circular webs. Their colors range from brown to gray with stripes on their legs. They are nocturnal spiders and they usually do most of their work at night.
Their webs are their method to entrap their prey as the webs are quite sticky and large. For the most part, they stay situated on their webs and simply wait for their food to walk into the trap. By morning, they usually teardown or even consume their webs in order for them to take in moisture left behind by the morning dew.
They can be found in gardens and inside your homes. They rarely bite and they only do so when they feel threatened.
Jumping Spiders
The name “jumping spider” doesn’t exactly sound too appealing, but these special fellows are too impressive to just be seen as scary. They are quite fuzzy and chubby in their appearance. Their bodies are various shades of brown, which allow them to blend into whatever environment they find themselves in.
They are of course smooth, agile jumpers when it comes to hunting. They move fairly slowly but when it’s meal time, they are always ready to strike. They also use their jumping abilities when they feel threatened or when they need to cross large spaces. Aside from this, they also have great vision, rivaling that of the wolf spider.
“Daddy Long Legs” aka Cellar Spiders
Cellar spiders are just as common as the orb weavers. They are notable for their special feature: those long, long legs!
These guys can often be found in high places, usually at the corners of rooms, attics, and cellars. They create webs as well, but their webs are more erratic and messy.
Their gait is known as the alternating tetrapod gait. The way they move can be very interesting and even hypnotic to look at. Those legs are sure to be the envy of every supermodel!
Wolf spiders
Wolf spiders are the loner of this list. They live alone, hunt on their own, and don’t spin webs. They have big black eyes and their colors range from brown, gray black, or tan. They usually have dark spots or markings on their bodies.
They are hunters, so they do not simply wait for their prey to fall into a trap. They have incredible eyesight and they are very opportunistic. Some of these spiders go as far as to wait in little burrows, and pounce on any insect scurrying past.
Huntsman spiders
The huntsman spider, also known as the giant crab spider, is quite possibly the fiercest among the common spiders. They are the most aggressive on this list, and it is difficult to tell exactly what would provoke them.
They are on the larger side and people often tend to mistake them for tarantulas. They are quite speedy and they are very wide-set. The reason they are also known as giant grab spiders is because, like their namesake, they have these long legs that are twisted and spread out.
This appeared in Animal Scene magazine’s March-April 2021 issue.
You might want to read:
– 3 new spider species found in Calabarzon
– Spiders have “little paws” you didn’t know about
– Color blind? Not until I met the spider that changed my mind
