Other common Spiders
Cellar spiders (Pisauridae)
Cellar spider (Pholcus phalangoides)
Web: an open, messy, 3D web.
Habitat: almost always in or close to buildings. Often in the corner of the ceiling in cellars or bathrooms, but also in the garage, the garden shed,…
How to recognize:
- spider with elongated abdomen and very long, thin legs
- abdomen with beige or grey colour
Looks similar to:
- because of the long legs, cellar spiders can be confused with harvestmen (daddy longlegs). However, harvestmen are not spiders, the big difference lies in the body. In harvestmen the body consists of one piece, in spiders you can clearly recognize two sections: cephalothorax and abdomen.
Size
♀: 8-10 mm
♂: 7-10 mm
When?
♀: throughout the year
♂: throughout the year
Nursery web spiders (Pisauridae)
Nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
Web: the Nursery web spider doesn’t make a catching web, but is an active hunter, by using fangs and legs to immobilize prey.
Habitat: often in open habitats with rather high vegetation such as roadsides, grasslands, forest edges. Also in the garden on taller grass.
How to recognize:
- big spider with oblong body
- colour yellow brown to grey brown
- abdomen with variable colour. Often with a light midstripe with dark, undulating bands.
- cephalothorax with a thin, light midstripe, ending in a small tuft of hair.
Looks similar to:
- the Nursery web spider has a very characteristic appearance and is easily recognized
Size
♀: 11-15 mm
♂: 10-13 mm
When?
♀: May till August
♂: May till July
Spitting spiders (Scytodidae)
Spitting spider (Scytodes thoracica)
Web: the Spitting spider doesn’t make a catching web, but stalks its prey (flies, mosquitoes) on walls and spits a mixture of sticky silk and poison in a zigzag pattern over the prey. The threadlike adhesive shrinks, pinning the prey to the surface.
Habitat: almost exclusively indoors. In summer sometimes on the outside of houses and one very strange find of a Spitting spider underneath a tussock in a field during winter (!).
How to recognize:
- typical colour pattern of dark stripes and dots on an orange/light brown/grey or beige background colour.
- cephalothorax is often as big as the abdomen and has a characteristic shape with a flattened front.
Looks similar to:
- the Spitting spider has a very characteristic appearance and is almost impossible to confuse with other species.
Size
♀: 4-6 mm
♂: 3-5 mm
When?
♀: throughout the year
♂: throughout the year
Cell spiders (Dysderidae)
Woodlouse spider (Dysdera crocata)
Web: the Woodlouse spider doesn’t make a catching web, but actively hunts its prey.
Habitat: Is found in a humid environment such as underneath stones, flower pots, bark, dead wood. In gardens and in parcs, but also in forests. Sometimes also indoors in humid cellars.
How to recognize:
- big spider with large protruding fangs
- easily recognizable by the strikingly red/orange coloured body
- abdomen yellowish or grey
Looks similar to:
- lesser woodlouse spider (Dysdera erythrina): only through detailed study using a stereomicroscope can the two species accurately be identified. On the other hand, he Lesser woodlouse spider is much more rare, is almost never found in or close by houses and is generally smaller and lighter of colour. Size and colour are, however, not reliable characteristics as a young Woodlouse spider also exhibits these.
Size
♀: 11-15 mm
♂: 9-10 mm
When?
♀: throughout the year, but with a peak from May till July
♂: throughout the year, but with a peak from May till July
