Help Identify a Spider
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.
I live in New England, north of Boston area, and I think I was bitten by a spider. Not sure when, I noticed the wound this morning in the shower. Wound appears to be a single puncture, surrounded by about 1/4 ” white, then about 2″ diameter black/blue circle. It doesn’t hurt, but is slightly tender but I’ve notice reddish thick streak starting at the bottom of the wound earlier this afternoon. Should I stop by the emergency clinic on my way home from work?
For Krystsal, #147,
Hello…I found your spider in my field guide…in case you want to go to the
library and look it up for yourself for more info., it is THE AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS AND SPIDERS .
It is called a crablike spiny orb weaver, technically “gasteracantha elipsoides”
Orb weavers spin a web anew each night and are not poisonous. They do hide and stay attached to their web by a signal strand and will drop to the ground if
approached. That actually happened to us w/our spider and so we know it to
be true. The book does go on to say that orb weavers spiderlings overwinter
and begin web weaving in the spring. : )
Hello,
I would greatly appreciate your assistance:
I am quite arachnaphobic. I was in the basement of my townhome, in London Ontario and the spider in the picture below happened to be on my basement stairs, slowly trying to venture up to the main floor.
I’m freaked out by daddy-long-legs, so this one was certainly intimidating to me….it moved towards me when I tried to take a step past it to get upstairs…I spent the rest of the day in the basement…..PLEASE identify this spider and let me know if it is a threat or not.
My digital camera is not a very high quality device….but the spider..I managed to capture it in an upside down candle-holder with an envelope slid underneath as a floor for it….
Thank You,
Caleb
Hello,
I was wondering if you could help me identify the spider below.
It has built a large web outside of my apartment window and I have never seen one quite like it. I apologize for the lack of clarity in the photo, but I did not want to get any closer. You can see that it is about the size of a nickel. It is bright yellow with red spikes around it’s wide body. Any information you can give me would be helpful.
Thank you,
Krystal
Michelle #32, Sheila #48—
Those both look similar to the Giant Wood Spiders (Nephila maculata) I see outside my house in Japan. Perhaps they’re a North American relative. The Japanese spider is huge and somewhat poisonous, though it is not aggressive.
I have NEVER came across and species so frightening, yet so interesting to me at the same time as I do with spiders…..They completely freak me out, yet intrigue me, it’s strange…I want to learn which ones in Canadian homes are generally found
I’ve been finding large (about half an inch) yellow spiders in my New Jersey house today. They are very slender (legs, abdomen and fangs) and hairless. I know that’s not enough information to indentify them with any certainty, but I just want possible indentities- Google can do the rest.
I have been bit twice by some bug, a month apart, both on my upper thigh, once on each leg. The bite starts as a red bump, like a mosiquito bite and grows into a red rash. The bit area gets really warm and hurts all the way into the muscle of my leg. It hurt even if I brushed my leg against something.
Tonight, my cat found the FIRST bug I have seen in my apartment, which was a spider. I took pictures of it and posted them above. She found it behind my TV console in my livingroom. I live in Las Vegas.
Could this be the spider that caused the bites? What kind of spider is this? Any information would be appreciated!!
the spider i found is just like the one on number 28 on your page
its black with white i didnt find it near a web. I live in southern indiana.
Hi I live in Pittston Pennsylvania and recently had a pain in my leg and when i showed my boyfriend he said you have a bite or something on your leg. I do not have a picture to send, but it has two fang marks in the middle of a red bump. it is black and blue around it. I do work at a pet store, i did not find any spiders at me house. any info you can give me would be great. thanks
i have a spider in my store that is black with a yellow dot on his head. Does any one know what type that is. Note: i did just receive a shipment from Georgia.
I found a spider on my bed side table this morning. It was dead. I have no idea what kind it is. I would say that if the legs were spread out it would be about the size of a quarter. The legs are a dark brown color. I could not provide a picture, but perhaps the image below will help.
The body is black, the top of the head is has a patch of a grayish color, the abdomen has this pattern where from the part where the abdomen connects with the head there is a small rectangle that extends half way down the abdomen connecting the rectangle at the bottom is the head of an arrow.
At the bottom of the abdomen is two lines that are connected like an arrow to the sides of the abdomen and is colored in. This pattern has an almost tannish color to it.
Thanks
Alex
to Sandy, #131,
Hey, look at the picture of my spider on #85…does it match your spider? The reason I ask, I still have not identified this spider, however, I rent a cabin in the summer and have had families from Washington stay there…perhaps a transplant to Alaska while on vacation? When we described it to our dad, we said it was about the size of a quarter. And, yes, it was in an orb web. Still no positive id yet, as to a name.
Hello,
I need to find out what this spider is, found in Lakeside Ca (San diego County) at night, approximately size of a silver dollar, has black legs, with brown hair and a brown bulb butt. Possibly a recluse of some kind, but doesn’t match the Brown Recluse.
thanks
Thanks for your help.
Update: David discovered that this is a California Trap door spider.
Because the trapdoor spider blends in well with its surroundings when closed, it can easily be missed. These spiders are nocturnal and wait for their prey to pass by the door and then leaps out to attack their prey.
Hi my boyfriend got bit inside my house last night on the arm. His arm had a red bump on it and was burning, very hot. I put insect bite stuff on it and some benedryl cream and then had him take a benedryl pill. This morning the bite has no skin around it and is the size of a dime. He is a black man and the black skin is completely gone …all that is there now is pink underneath skin. We don’t have any idea what bit him. Please help if you can to identify this spider. We did not see it.
michelle, #32 , i think the spider you have found is or looks like a
st. georges cross spider. If so these spiders are not very dangerous and are not common for biting, unless they feel under threat or trapped. other than that i think your safe.
I’ve found several of these spiders in my house- under beds, behind
storage boxes, etc. The spider in the picture below is by far the largest.
I’m living in Khartoum, Sudan, North Africa. They don’t react to bug spray and they’re pretty intimidating to try and squish. I’m worried they might be poisonous.
I haven’t seen one in any kind of web.
Hello,
My Wife found this spider inside the washing up glove in the laundry when it bit her.
Minor swelling and discomfort which receded quickly. This fact along with no hits as a venomous species left us with little concern. Released it in the garden the next morning.
Regards,
Jerome
HI!!
my parents fount this spider in thier bedroom. My little sister was in there sleeping and they were worried that it would harm her. i tried looking up information about this spider but i couldnt find anything. it has red and black legs, it is small and shiny, and it has a row of yellow dimond-shaped marks on its Abdomen. if it helps, i live in Tennesse. PLEASE HELP!! we want to know if it is poisonis.
Nobody’s been bitten – but I’ve captured an interesting spider that I found in a house that i clean. We live in Puyallup- Tacoma, WA area. It is about the size of a quarter, is orange in color, not fuzzy, had a huge body that has a design of a sword in her back. Almost looks like an orb weaver spider, except she’s not fuzzy. Am very curious — got any ideas about what kind of spider we have?
Hi, I found this beauty inside my mail box. Spider is about 3/4″ long and was making a small web.
Sorry, I have no photo. But it looks similar to April’s spider, #42!
I live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
In my basement I have fushia/pinkish carpet, and it is there that I sometimes find a pinkish/fuschia coloured spider. He has been seen sitting on the stairs toward the edges, or in the general hallway. My 3 boys sleep in a bedroom right at the bottom of the stairs, and seeing this spider so close to their bedroom really bothers me! The spider is nearly undectable, as he is the same colour as the carpet. His back rear end section is the only part of him not pink .. that section is dark like a raisin. When sitting on the carpet, he appears to have a dusty covering on top of him …. almost makes me think he is could be of the dust mite family … but he is most certainly a spider.
Hello,
My co-worker just found a metallic/copper spider at the bottom of a book case that had a large body and extremely long front legs. She said that his body came to a point in the back. We live in Troy, NY. I don’t know what kind of spider this could be, but I was just curious as to wether or not it might be poisonous.
Thanks,
Anne
Hi my sister got bit today and she said it was white fuzzy and spiky we don’t know if it was a thorn or spider but it certainly started to turn red and swell up Help!
April #28
That looks like a brown recluse.
104 Donna….have you seen a doctor? I had a odd thing happen during the summer, thought I woke up with a burn on my lower abdomen, we where camping, assumed I just singed my skin on the camp fire. It was long, and red, and almost a black peeling off type of burn, looked like a blister. I saw a doc a few days later, and there where 3 areas, 2 small and one measuring 7 cm by 15cm. They tested for everything from MRSA to contagious diseases. 4 visits and a new doc later, after watching a news story and bringing in photos, it was confirmed to be a Hobo Spider bite, a cousin of brown recluse. Wound appears 12 to 24 hrs after bite, so unsure if it was at work, home or lake it happened. Took nearly 10 weeks to fully close, due to severity, leaving a large red scar on my abdomen.
TOnia
Tammi article #122. I would not guarantee what I am about to say as I am no doctor b ut the “bite” in the picture honestly does not look like a bite to me. It looks more like ringworm to me and the description also sounds like ringworm. There are medicines for such thing. Hope this may help some if any at all.
picture number 32 is a garden spider they get pretty big an usually have a zig zag in the middle of theyre web they arnt poisonous but are good for keepin other bugs away just creepy looking
My daughter was bit by something – likely a spider, after a weekend on a camping trip. It was a white space with a red ring – we thought it was a brown recluse. However, the white space just got sort of hard and raised, see image below:
No numbness, no tingling, no redness throughout the arm (bit was on the lower arm). No spreading. Just itched like crazy. That was 2 weeks ago. now, the whiteness has faded. There are little red dots around the ring (which is also faded) – making the “area” affected larger than it was. Is this part of the healing process? Or, should I make a trip to the dr? It hasn’t bothered her, but she has had 1-2 headaches and 1 episode of dizziness that may not be related.
Tammi
The spiders below seem to thrive in my shed. They sometimes have a small web with a funnel that they hide in. Other times, they have a haphazard looking mess of strands to make up a web. Their bodies, from fangs to abdomen can be as much as an inch or a little more. Their legs are stout.
I live in eastern South Carolina. I’ve not been bitten, but I do LOOK into everything in my shed before I touch it!
Thanks, Wayne
I found this spider (see spider picture below) in my in-laws’ backyard. They live in Heath, TX, near Dallas. It was about 1-1/2″ from top to bottom. It was in its web, pretty much flat against a fence. What can you tell me about it?
Thank you.
Kathy
Greetings. We live in Jacksonville, FL. My 2 year old son has been
getting bitten at night. Each time we find a bite, we find one of these
spiders camped out along the back of his bed. I haven’t found any other
bugs, and the spider’s web is always empty, so I assume it is
responsible for the bites. This last one must have bitten him 5 times,
with dime-sized welts resulting.
Please help me figure out what this is, and recommend a way to get rid
of them. There have been at least 5 I’ve removed already over the last 6
months. The shape at the bottom of the picture is a dime, so it’s a
little guy.
Thanks,
Jim
Hi,
I live in Northern Indiana, Fort Wayne to be exact. I have found a spider crawling along the wall of my home on the outside. I captured him/her and took some pics. It looks much bigger in the pics than it is. It is actually only about the size of a nickel if that big.
Please help me identify it. Thank You.
I saw this spider on the back porch of our condo while visiting Edisto Beach, SC. There was one on the tree in the front of the condo, too. The web was large – the one on the porch was 3′ – 4′, the one on the tree was about 5′ & went from the ground to the side of the tree. The spider’s body was approximately 2″, its legs were each appr. 2″ – 3″.
Can anyone ID this spider?
Thank you,
Sue
Found this spider in my hotel room outside of Bangkok Thailand. I
wasn’t bitten or anything. Just curious what it might be.
Thanks,
Chris
I found this spider and it is about an inch or two in diameter with its legs on. It has two black stripes running down it head and one on its thorax. It is brown. It was found in North Carolina.
Lots of strange insects around my house. I have had one bite that left two tiny holes, like fang marks, on my back. I had another bite that was a large hard lump under the skin- – about the size of a silver dollar. It was red and slightly painful, and remained for two months. Finally, I massaged it very firmly and it spread a little larger and changed shape. It looked more like a red ring (doughnut). Has anyone ever had an experience like this?
I just caught a spider tonight that I think may be a brown widow, except the markings are dark brown triangles all over its body. Ever seen one like that?
Thanks
Paula
Unknown bite, I had bought a vest from my local Wal-Mart and when I stuck it on. On my shoulder if felt like a bee sting at first so I ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. The bite had swollen instantly later it an associate said it had looked like the unknown insect had bite me twice leaving me with two bite about two inches or more apart from eachother on my back.
The pain for a well was a stinging feeling then later my arm went numb, but then it was burning hot. Now that it has been a day after the bite it, still is hot to the touch and red it also itches. Please can anyone help I know this isn’t much detail but I didn’t see what bite me. Thanks
I live in south Louisiana and have a boxer weighing in at about 55lbs. About a week ago I noticed that my dog was not using one of his hind legs. On the first night I noticed he was in discomfort , he cried and moaned and growled all night. That morning was when I noticed he wasn’t walking on one of his legs. He stays outside all day while I am at work, so during the day he stil stayed outside and when he would come in I noticed that he was always tired and would go straight to his kennel and fall asleep from 5 in the afternoon till the next morning. He wouldn’t eat or drink water. Well, finally today I told myself that I would bring him into the vet and get him checked out. But Jake(my dog) seemed almost 100% better. He was running around this morning and jumping on his leg. I noticed that right about his leg on his lower back were two bites. The skin is black and gray with two welps side by side with little blood coming out of the two wholes on top of the welps. I’m still not certain if it was a snake or a spider bite, but he seems to be doing fine. Is it common in dogs, when bitten by a spider to have these symptoms???
I found this spider next to my head over my bed. I really like spiders and don’t want to kill it -yet-. Is this dangerous or should I keep it as a pet in a cage?:)
I found a spider that looked a lot like the one in # 36 except there were a lot more white dots on it’s back making a white cross and it’s legs weren’t so hairy looking. I live a couple hours from the Oregon coast. We were taking an afternoon walk and it were walking down the sidewalk when we stopped to look; it curled up like it wanted to hide.
No bite. But I found a spider in my basement (unfinished – cellar like) the other night that sort of scared me due to it’s size. He was “jumping” around very frantically (almost grasshopper like). He was brown in color. Probably about an inch long. From the quick glimpse I got of it, he didn’t look “furry”. I live in Baltimore County, Maryland. Any ideas on what kind of spider this might be?
Hello,
We’re trying to figure out what kind of spider this is.
We live in Central Texas and found it on the side of our yard.
Thanks,
Tina
Hi,
last night I found this spider outside. It’s like a brownish black,has a white strip on its legs,two horns on its body and gill looking slashes on its body.Its the size of a quater. Whats is it?
I found a spider with a distinct cross on it’s back in white, kind of a brown body -bigger than a dime, big web. Any ideas?
I have a spider near my shed and it’s about 3 inches long its yellow with black stripes all over its body, the body is roundish, it has 8 legs and are 1/2 inch to an inch long, it’s web is spun in a circular motion like a design and it just sits in the middle of the web, its web is very thick and its stronger than a Black Widow’s web, and the web is pretty big a little over 12inches. I’ve never seen one of these before and i would like to know what kind of spider its is. I took picture’s, but its not a digital camera i’ll have to develop them, but please tell me what kind of spider it is i would really like to know thank you.
Think i was bitten by spider during the night left about a 2 inch trail like burn to my skin.what kind of spider would leave a burn type blister?
we have a spider around our house yard that is velvety black, has white rings around it”s legs and blue eyes. So far I haven’t been able to identify what it is. We live in Central Texas.
I found this spider hanging out right outside my back sliding glass door. There doesn’t appear to be a web nearby…and it’s been in the same spot all day. It’s about an inch or so long (maybe a little bigger)…sending photo, too. Could you please tell me what it is?
chris..# 89
chris you should be extremly carefull with this spider its called brown recluse spider its bites are very severe it cause alot of pain and a bite after 3 to 4 days the bite will open into a open like whole and will get infeted i sujest you put spider traps or search for more informartion in how to prevent this bites this spider is the second most poinsenous spider in north america, hope this could help u chris
thanks for the picture