BugGuide suggests choosing an identifying name; I called this one "Clown face spider". Once I get an ID from them, I'll update the post.
 |
| The "face" is on the back, not the head, but still ... |
 |
| The spider is about 1 1/2 millimetres long. I think I see eight eyes here. And since the pedipalps (only one visible) have no club ends, she is probably female. Or very young. |
Update: BugGuide identifies it as a juvenile False Black Widow, Steatoda grossa. Possibly male, but definitely young.
The bite of this spider can produce symptoms that are similar, but much less severe than those of a black widow bite. In some cases blistering may form at the site of the bite along with physical discomfort that lasts for several days.
I wonder how big it has to be before it can actually bite through human skin. BugGuide has a photo of one that grew to 7 mm. (about 1/4 inch) by 8 months old. A mature female looks like a black widow without the red mark on the belly. I'll keep a lookout for these now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'm having to moderate all comments because Blogger seems to have a problem notifying me. Sorry about that. I will review them several times daily, though, until this issue is fixed.
Also, I have word verification on, because I found out that not only do I get spam without it, but it gets passed on to anyone commenting in that thread. Not cool!