Help Identify a Spider

Two fanged spider shown up-close.Need help identifying a spider? If so, then take a look at our collection of spider pictures to see if it looks like yours.

You can also look through the comments below to see if any of the images match your spider.

Don’t see your spider? feel free to upload your photo here and we’ll attempt to id it, and if we can’t, then perhaps one of the visitors can after we post it.

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  1. Russ says:

    Amanda, #1096 is a female Bold Jumping Spider. They are “bold” in that they will jump on you if you wear any black. They are ambush killers with exceptional eyesight. They like to hide on things that camoflage them so that they can ambush successfully. They are not dangerous, and if they see you coming, they will probably hide.

  2. Russ says:

    I cant believe the amount of people misidentifying brown recluses and banana spiders. Look, a brown recluse is NO BIGGER THAN A DIME!!!! It has a TAN (lighter colored) abdomen. If you dont have those two things, you dont have a recluse. Banana spiders?? The odds of finding one in the US outside of a produce stand in a grocery store is about one in a billion. Coated with white hair and capable of reaching 4-5″ across, they are obvious. Also obvious is that the majority of people attempting to identify the species here aren’t attempting to verify their claims. If you have a bite, and it gets bad, that DOESN’T mean that the spiders venom is necessarily at fault. Many harmless spiders can open up the skin and leave a lesion that is susceptible to infection. Many of the bite descriptions I have read here sound exactly like an infection.

  3. Izzi says:

    I live in Colorado, I found this spider crawling on the floor in my room, and I’ve never seen a spider quite like it. It was dark gray and very shiny, it almost looked black it has 4 indents on it’s back in a square shape and it doesn’t have a white stripe down it’s back, that’s just from the flash. I was just wondering if it’s poisonous or not and what kind of spider it is. Thanks!

    black spider

  4. Jamie says:

    Hello, This spider is outside every morning with a grand large web and when the sun comes up good… it and its web is gone but it sets up shop in the same place every night. I have attached some pictures. I am in central Florida. Thanks for any help.

    large tan spider

  5. Jason says:

    I believe I have found a few of these lately, but I’m afraid this is the first time I’ve gotten a picture of one. I found it at around 10:00pm in the track of my sliding screen door here in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was dark tan / light brown in color although it does look darker in the picture.

    Anything to worry about?

    Thank you!

    black spider

  6. Rachel says:

    Hello,
    I live in Gilbert, Arizona (near Phoenix) and found this spider in my backyard this evening. I thought it was a male black widow, but I was wrong. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks so much.
    Rachel

    tan spider

  7. Michelle says:

    #67 The spiders in your picture look like Hobo Spiders. While being dangerous is questionable by some; I have always been told to stay away from them and that they are definatly venemous. Although not likely to be deadly, their bite is painful and can carry a host of unpleasant symptoms.

  8. tonya says:

    the spider i found is like the one in the picture above,i have looked all over the internet and can’t find it, the picture is the one sal #816 can you please tell me what kind it is.

  9. Sheri says:

    Well, my dog and I have been getting eaten alive by one of the many types of bugs at our house. (Husband is bite free, of course)

    The other day I found a bump on my head. I freaked out. Had husband look at it, he said it looked like a blood blister, after he scared me breathless about it possibly being a tick. He kept telling me to pop it as he looked at it, so I did. Apparently clear fluid and some blood came out. It is now a bump/scab.

    Can’t post picture as “bite” was popped.

    It does not itch, nor did it before. Could this be a spider bite???

  10. Sarah in ATL says:

    1084- Jeanne- what is the other site you used to identify your spider? I am still trying to find out what kind #298 is.. I really need to know since dd brought one just like it home from FL.

  11. Lydia says:

    ok so a few nights ago i got bite by a spider or mosquito. a fday passed and nothing was wrong but yesterday when i woke up it itched like crazy, the bite is purple, and around it is swollen. i need help!!!! today i founf a rather larger spider in my room. its black fury, and has a white dot on its back. i need the name of the spider who did this.

  12. Sabrina says:

    hi all,i was weeding my driveway & seen a web,he was hiding under a leaf & was the biggest spider i have seen,i have not seen one like this?? orange-black legs with a big green body-i at first thought it was a egg sack but no!! it took about 8 sprays of raid before he went down-i put him in a jar after that & he is still moving!! any help would be appreciated-he is about 1 1/2-1 3/4 around.thanks

  13. Tiffany says:

    my mom has a bite or something on her ankle and we cant really tell what it is, so could someone please tell me what it might be!

  14. jo says:

    There is a very dangerous spider found in the San Fransico Bay Area and along the Northern California coast. I believe this spider was brought here in the 1800’s by gold seekers from around the world. This spider is brown with large bodies and short stubby legs. They don’t spin webs but make nest’s and they can’t climb walls either. Their found inside walls, atticks and basements. There very elusive and difficult to find. All who know about this spider are keeping it from the public because it’s so dangerous. If the Bay Area people knew about this spider it would cause mass panick. I was bit by one in 1982 while camping at an old gold mining camp. It took three days for the venom to pass through my system. On day three I was 95% blind. The venom attacked me for twelve hours, and when I awoke, I lost absolutely all of my body fat. The next day I spoke with a doctor that worked at the Santa Rosa Ca. hospital by phone from Ukiah Ca. He told me that it’s impossible to lose all my body fat in twelve hours and survive. He also told me, I was lucky to survive this spider bite. The spider that bit me had a four inch body. Four years later I found another female running across the floor that was bigger than the one that bit me, about a six inch body. Which leads me to wonder, how big do they get. There common name is……..the assassins. I’ve been trying for many years to find info on this elusive and extremely dangerous spider with absolutely “No Results”

  15. Jeanne says:

    #1003 I submitted my spider #1061 to another site. I recieved an answer that it is basically harmless and is called a Nursery Web spider. I looks like the one you found at Keuka…I’m from the Keuka (Horsheads, NY) area adn never saw one until I moved to Maine.

  16. KM1 says:

    We went camping this past weekend (Ohio) and when we woke up the next morning and were putting the beds up in the camper my cousin said oh you slept with a spider. I never saw it so I’m not sure what it looks like I did text her to ask her what it looked like. I didn’t notice anything right away. That evening I started getting bumps (about 5 of them) in a circle on the back of my arm…they kinda look like mosquito bites but the big red bumps are in a circle. They itch and are somewhat painful. I noticed another section of them on my back too. Same scenario except there is about 6-7. I sent photos of the back of my arm as well. The only thing that worries me is 1) the pain and 2) I’ve been feeling sick with bad headaches, super tired, cramping in the stomach (which I swore I thought I was pg! lol but I’m not!) Any help is appreciated!

  17. Rachael says:

    #22, #72
    Those are wolf spiders. You can tell from the pattern at the back of the head…these guys can be aggressive! Do not provoke. Bites should be medically treated by your doctor.

  18. Amanda says:

    We found this spider under our window sill outside. I think it’s a bold jumping spider by researching on the web. Do you know anything about them? We live in Portland, Oregon and have never seen a spider like this one before.

  19. Vickie Brown says:

    WE found a spider in our travel trailer. We live in Michigan, the lower peninsula, and it is black with a white spot on its back. Not very big. Do you have any idea what kind of spider this may be?

  20. rebecca says:

    Sal #87 and all questions about brown recluses vs wolf

    #87 is called a red hourglass around here…poisonous but not like the black widow and not as agressive. you see alot of them in SC, i live in the midlands and will occasionally find both around my house..

    As for the controversy between what a wolf spider is and a brown recluse the easiest way to tell is that they are kind of “reversed”. A wolf spider is brown with two small black stripes down it’s back, they like to come inside and stay in places like attics, basements, bathrooms, closets, etc. They don’t have webs and can be very small or up to 2 inches big. They get big and round around the middle when they are pregnant. I see them unpacking boxes at work alot.

    A brown recluse has almost the same markings, but on it’s underside. definatly don’t touch it to find out if that’s what it is, better to just assume it is and stay as far away as possible. They like damn dark places like wood piles, under stones, in gardens around around gutters. hope this helps everyone!

  21. hayabusa-tyger says:

    I live in norridge IL up in the north suburbs and we usually don’t get these kinda spiders in this area. Just wanna be curious what kinda spider is it!

  22. Courtney says:

    Hey, I recently moved into an old house in Atlanta Georgia. The windows work on this weird pulley system and a spider has taken up residence in the hole where the rope goes beside the window. There web is feathery and cobweb like. They don’t seam to like the light much but we see them during the day sometimes. We named all of them so we don’t want to have to kill them unless they are poisons.

    Thanks,
    Courtney

    black spider

  23. Dianna Graham says:

    I found a black spider in my basement laundry. I live in the midwest. It was a little fuzzy like a wolf spider but it had a bright red stripe down its back from tip of the back to the butt. The total size was a nickel with legs. My first thoght was black widow but I thought it would have a hourgass-shaped red spot. Can you identify?

  24. Andrew says:

    we found this big spider at a friends house thought it was cool and wanted some info. has some silver paint that dripped on it before we saw it. abdomen was approx. 1 1/4″ in diam. black and orange striped legs

    big spider

  25. Natalie says:

    I found this in our bathroom where we are doing drywall, it was huge. I am wondering it is bites, as I have 2 big dogs, and we don’t want to find another one any time soon. Any need for worry of this one? Please email me back. Spiders are my biggest fear!!!!!!

    black spider

    Thanks,
    Natalie Cable – NewBrunswick Canada

  26. Ben Allen says:

    I found this nasty looking spider in my house and I want to know if it is venomous or not. Please Help!

    ant spider

  27. Mary from Pa says:

    This is for the photo #1059. My husband caught the same spider in your photo two days ago. He put it in a empty soda bottle to show me when I got home from work. I have yet to get information on this spider. I have been on the computer ever since I looked at that ugly and scary spider. I swear it is looking at me saying, “you wait lady when I get out of this thing I will get you.” lol So when or if you find out what kind and if it is poisonous please send me an email. Thank you
    Mary

  28. Sarah in ATL says:

    Did anyone find out what 298 is? My daughter found one exactly like that in Florida (North Port area) and brought it home.. we thought it was a wolf spider… then maybe a brown recluse.. then who knows?! Also, she had a huge egg sac she was carrying with her.. about the size of a dime. The babies hatched the last few days.. but now we are really concerned as to what she is.

  29. Karen says:

    I live in Northern California and I saw this spider on my kitchen window, in my house. I have lived here my entire life and I have never seen such a thing. The way the legs are held together and the hair on the legs. It certainly creeped me out!!

    strange spider

    Thank you,
    Karen

  30. Amber says:

    #1006 and #1038 not sure, but those do look a lot a Brown Recluse. It’s hard to tell for sure w/o actually seeing them.

  31. Amber says:

    #1018 Wolf spiders are not poisonous! They are not considered to be dangerous, but they can be aggressive and bite if harassed.

  32. Amber says:

    #1021 that looks like a True Granddaddy Long Legs there. I’m not 100% sure, but that’s what that’s what I think. They like to come inside warehouses and old buildings. They can make a very large very irregular shaped webs for catching anything that may happen to wonder close by. They are harmless.

  33. Amber says:

    #74 you are right about #22’s spider. It is a wolf spider and not a Brown Recluse.

    Brown recluse’s have very long thin brown legs with no spines and are not gray in color. Neither do they have stripes that go down each side of the body from their head to the end of their body.

    Wolf spiders are not considered dangerous, but can be very aggressive if cornered or startled. There are probably hundreds or thousands of wolf spiders roaming around in the grass in your backyards. There is no need to kill them. Just catch them and put them back outside where they came from. They just seem to wonder inside from time to time.

    As for #28, #57, #72, #89, #97 … You all have wolf spiders!!! Don’t be alarmed.

    For anyone interested…There is a great site (spiderzrule) with really great pictures of spiders. You should be able to find your species of Wolf Spider there.

  34. Jeannie says:

    Just moved to Maine and was greeted on my deck by this spider. Can anyone identify it for me? My granddaughter is allergic to spider bites so any help would be appreciated….

    Jeannie

    tan spider

  35. cassie says:

    Hi

    I’m Cassie, I live in Chandler, AZ. ME and my girlfriend were getting our things together to go camping for a few days when she stepped out back to grab the grill. she took a pot off the top of it an was just about to pick up the bottom part of the grill when she like did a double take and saw this huge spider kicking it right where she was about to grab.
    this is the first time i’ve ever seen a spider that looked like this. . . Brown Widow right? I was just wondering whats an effective way to kill them and since now we’ve seen this one are we right to assume we probably have more around we just haven’t seen them?

    Well, Thank you for you time.

    Cassie Fox

    brown widow

  36. chantal says:

    We live in Eastern Canada, NB to be precise, this not so nice looking spider was in the children’s play tent. It hasn’t bitten anyone yet but we’re concerned with the children running around. Can you please help us.

    spider

  37. Lukas says:

    found this guy in a ga garden, running across the drive. not happy that i caught him, about an inch long

    any idea what it is

    thanks
    lukas

    spider

  38. Morgii says:

    Hi,
    I found this spider in my basement just to the right of the washing machine in a poorly organized web structure. It didn’t look anything like a normal web at all, it was just a mass of web and cobwebs in the corner. It’s smaller than a dime and has a bulbous abdomen. The abdomen looks like 3 different colors: Light brown, and dark brown and what looks like a dark rusty red. It has a odd dark brown design on the middle of the top side of the abdomen. The legs are alternating colors of dark and light. Oh! I live in Northern-ish Ohio

    light and dark brown spider

  39. Jenn says:

    Hello I need help as well identifying a spider. The spider looks very similar to the spiders posted for #22 and #89. If my spider is the same-Brown Recluse is it strange to be in my home? I found the spider while I was vaccuming my rug it popped up from underneath the rug against my door frame.It was very large though…i dont not kno how big the other spiders posted where but it was about the same circumfrence of a tenis ball. I was too scared to approch it any closer but waaayyy to scared to leave it so I sucked it up with the vaccume hose so my boyfriend could handle it when he got home. When he got home about an hour later he took the whole vaccume appart and there was absolutly no trace of the spider or a squashed spider.We recently just bought a forclosed home that was abandonded for over a year so i expected to see some weird bugs. I live in Plymouth, MA and have a 10 month old daughterand am very scared of this is the same spider as the others. I do have a picture but unfortunatly do not have the connection for the computer anymore so i cannot post it. please let me kno as much as you can and what I should do. and would a terminator be helpful because I DO NOT want a family of that spider in my home!!

    thankyou hope you can help me,
    Jenn

  40. Adam says:

    Recently i have been finding alot spiders exactly like the pic #22. I have two young kids, I thought they were wolf spiders but some people are saying brown recluse can you please advise as to what species they are. I just need to know if i should kill them or leave them be. I do have pics if needed, but its a look-a-like to #22

  41. Sage says:

    I live in Southern Michigan and i’ve found many of these spiders in my house and outside.Although my house is surrounded by woods and I should be used to creepy crawlys by now,I still don’t like stumbling upon them.They very in size,and the one below is slightly bigger than a nickle.I found it while cleaning the top of my computer desk off, and took the photo through a water bottle.My grandpa picked the bottle up to take a look at it and it tried to bite through the bottle to bite him.Should I at all be worried about this type of spider?

    http://tinypic.com/r/2nbbwip/5

    thanks,
    Sage

  42. Amy says:

    i found a yellow spider with a dark triangle on its back in my mom’s master bedroom while using her computer. i am in the Virginia Beach, VA area. i panicked and got a pad of index cards and threw it at the web, which made it fall down (it was hanging by a web from the ceiling), and it’s somewhere in there. we have visitors, so i have to sleep there. is the spider poisonous?

  43. Amy says:

    i found a yellow spider with a dark triangle on its back in my mom’s master bedroom while using her computer. i am in the Virginia Beach, VA area. i panicked and got a pad of index cards and threw it at the web, which made it fall down (it was hanging by a web from the ceiling), and it’s somewhere in there. we have visitors, so i have to sleep there. is the spider poisonous?

  44. Amy says:

    i found a yellow spider with a dark triangle on its back in my mom’s master bedroom while using her computer. i am in the Virginia Beach, VA area.

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