Spider ID?

Vaughn McMillan

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I missed the day they taught entomology in school, so I'm pretty ignorant about bugs. Do any of you know what kind of spider this is? (This is looking at its underneath side.) It has apparently lost a couple of legs along the way, but there should be enough body markings for someone who knows spiders to know what kind it is. I'm guessing some type of wolf spider?
 
Doh! :doh: Well, let's try this...

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Vaughn,

Here's a local spider guide: http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/spiders/

But why are you asking? Did it bite you? It's probably not poisonous. And spiders are good for the shop: they keep the rust away. I have several. But then, I also have wrens and a couple dozen praying mantis. And the occasional pair of raccoons... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
(Did I mention the snakes? Lots of snakes. Hence the shop cat, who takes care of that problem, and lives well off the mice and chipmunks. So well, she's getting a little plump this season...
 
It looks alot light a wolf spider. You should see a female that is carrying all of her youngsters on her back. They look like a huge tarantula and when/if you step on one, about a hundred baby spiders exploded off her heading in every direction. We have them all around the house/yard except in the rock beds....thats where the black widows live. I have already waxed about twenty black widows this spring/summer, including one large pregnant female last night in the garden while cutting down a eggplant.

Also, wolf spiders are hunters and generally do not spin any webs.


Rob
 
Most around here will get up to about 1-1/2" diameter leg spread, but I saw one on the back deck while trimming the grass that was almost 2" diameter spread with a whole bunch of babies on her back. Rob
 
Looks like the famous "drawn butter" spider, really good steamed with a bit of old bay seasoning. The trouble is you need a lot of them to make a meal and some very small tools to draw the meat out.
Also since they are soft shelled they aren't bad deep fried with some tartar sauce on a roll. Just need to singe the hairs off before plating them up!
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra4WmE-joMQ
 
Vaughn,

Here's a local spider guide: http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/spiders/

But why are you asking? Did it bite you? It's probably not poisonous. And spiders are good for the shop: they keep the rust away. I have several. But then, I also have wrens and a couple dozen praying mantis. And the occasional pair of raccoons... ;)

I'm asking just out of curiosity. LOML spotted it a couple of nights ago and wanted to know if it was a brown widow. I was able to pretty quickly rule that out, but was just curious what it was. This one was outside by the back door, but if they get in the house or shop we pretty much let any of them live (except black widows).

We even have one of these from Lee Valley so we can do the whole 'catch and release' thing. It's actually pretty stirring...as the theme from "Born Free" plays over the outdoor speakers, LOML on her knees in the yard, arms outstretched, exclaiming "Be free my arachnid friend! Run like the wind and be free forevermore!" I kinda get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. :p

It's one of the more disgusting ones I've seen. How big?

Not too big...maybe an inch in diameter including the leg span.

Looks like the famous "drawn butter" spider, really good steamed with a bit of old bay seasoning...

Well, that video pretty much cured me of my desire to eat lunch. :p
 
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