Login
Register
Comments & ID Thoughts
Not certain. Believe it may be a red widow or brown widow. But, brown widow eggs don't match. As shown in picture, her egg is smooth, round and dark brown. Her body, she has reddish legs and a dark abdomen. Sometimes the abdomen looks dark green, sometimes it looks black. When feeding she feels the vibration of the bug, sneaks up on it and seems to bite quick. After the prey is immobilized, she wraps it in a little silk and pulls it back to her corner to feast. She is pretty inactive, mostly barely pokes out of her corner to hang upside-down and watch. Please, help me id her.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Sep 15, 2020
- Photographed: Sep 14, 2020
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Ocala, Florida, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes:
Wow! Thank you so much for your excellent description! I’d guess Nesticodes rufipes, the Red House Spider.
Thank you! That’s got to be her, because all the images on Google of the Red House Spider match. Even the egg matches.
You are very welcome! 🙂
Question. Is there not much information on the eggs and hatchlings of this species? Do you have a guess on the time for an egg sac / eggs to hatch?
Additional note: today she has been moving her egg sac around quite a bit, which she hasnt done since i saw her “gluing it in” per se.
According to my research, this pantropical species breeds year-round, having no seasonal cycle. I’ve seen a few pictures* that show adult females with their spiderlings, so the eggs should hatch within the mother’s lifespan. *image of female with spiderlings: https://images.ala.org.au/image/proxyImageThumbnailLarge?imageId=0fcdc9cb-fe70-4c9b-8b0e-5223723d352c Unfortunately, I can’t find any resources giving the lifespan or development period of Nesticodes rufipes. They are the only species in their genus and not well studied. I was able to find some information on the lifecycles of two spiders from closely related genera, which I have presented here: Steatoda grossa: “A well-fed female can lay three or more egg sacs each year. Each egg sac typically… Read more »
Thanl you so very much! Great information and references. I can tell I am so speaking to a fellow scientist. Ive been observing and recording a lot of her behavior and i will write it all up soon, but something is very pressing… It is about 12:30 pm my time, light definitely coming in. She is normally inactive and resting during thjs time. Well, she was grabbing a hold of her egg dac and appeared to be chewing on it or biting pieces off. So much that there is now a white spot and the once round egg sac now… Read more »
I’d be inclined to think she’s helping them hatch! Wolf spiders have to tear their egg sacs open to let the spiderlings out, and other spider parents sometimes help but don’t always have to. Let me check real quick and see if there is any literature on this behavior in Theridiidae…
It looks like there are records from Anelosimus studiosus, the Communal Spider, which is known to provide extended maternal care. Here’s a quote from the abstract of a study* on maternal care and the timing of egg-sac-opening in A. studiosus: “Females of Anelosimus cf. studiosus care for their egg-sacs and open them to allow the emergence of the spiderlings, which they feed by regurgitation… All the mothers ate eggs, but not larvae or nymphs. Spiderlings were unable to emerge by themselves.” I’m confused by this terminology of larvae and nymphs applied to spiders. I’m guessing they’re referring to developing eggs… Read more »
You are very welcome! I’m quite curious to see the outcome here. I’m only an unofficial scientist, an observer with no college degree or official qualifications but a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge. I’m so glad to hear that you’re recording your behavior observations and contributing to the study of an obscure species!
Well, the research is the most important part (and is the most fun). This venture has been quite interesting. Honestly, I was scared of spiders and thought they were worse than any insects. I failed to think of them as having their own unique personalities. And, I was surprised I did not “humanize” them as I do with almost all organisms. After being around Anastasia everyday, I discovered that she has a world of personality. I can even tell that she is a first time mother (or soon-to-be). I must tell you of the most recent development. This is even… Read more »
Hahaha! I have had so much fun discovering the tiny world of spiders. My phone is like that, too. I’ve created a separate folder in my gallery app just for photos of the little crawlies so I can find them whenever I want to see them. My mudroom spider, Clarice, just moved out, and I’m going to miss her. It’s good, though, because she was gravid and I’m very glad I don’t have to risk damaging her precious eggs by scraping the sac off the deposition surface. She can go lay her eggs in a more appropriate place. From what… Read more »
Males will be similar in appearance but are smaller and will have large, bulbous pedipalps. Here’s a picture:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19423421
Damn that’s a great amount of info. Sorry about not responding, it’s been busy around here. (Apologies about any typos, my phone keyboard is on the fritz sometimes.) I’ll have to start organizing my photos like that, especially for documenting. Things got way more interesting since the last time I responded, but I’ll get into that in a moment (though I have quite urgent questions at the bottom). Clarice sounds pretty cool. Mudroom spider… Is that a species? And, how do you relocate the egg sac? I don’t think i could manage to do that to Anastasia. Especially since her… Read more »
I posted a picture of him as another spider ID unidentified species.
https://spiderid.com/picture/128362/
Wow! Sounds tense. Yes, it is a good idea to remove him if at all possible. I agree that he is not a male Red House Spider and that it looks like he’s hunting her. It does sound like she feels harassed. As far as the safety of the eggs goes, I don’t know any good reasons for any spider but the mother to touch the egg sac. Infanticide of egg sacs by conspecific males has been observed in the species Stegodyphus lineatus, a spider species in which the mother sacrifices herself as food for her offspring: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9268461/#:~:text=Infanticide%20by%20males%20in%20species,the%20offspring%20eat%20their%20mother.&text=Females%20defended%20their%20egg%20sacs%20aggressively%20against%20males. As far… Read more »
No worries; I’ve been pretty busy, too. Ohhh! You did get babies! I’d love to see the babies! Ah, they dance! <3 How wonderful. So, it sounds as if she may have opened the sac to check on them/help them get out. I’ve read that tarantula hobbyists refer to the first instar after hatching as “eggs with legs,” abbreviated EWL, due to their bulbous appearance and continued helplessness. Spiderlings typically emerge after their first molt, when they are a bit more developed. My Clarice is technically a Grass Spider, meaning Family Agelenidae (Funnel Weavers), Genus Agelenopsis (Grass Spiders). I don’t… Read more »
I have never successfully relocated an egg sac. I tried removing the flat one in my mailbox with a stick, but it’s stuck very firmly. I imagine a razor blade knife would be the only way for one adhered to a surface, and even that would be risky for the eggs inside. But an egg sac suspended in a web should be easy enough to remove without causing egg damage. You’d need a long stick, a padded catch container in case it falls, and a bright light to illuminate the strands. Simply breaking the strands above it should transfer it… Read more »
I have a whole long reply to this typed up, but I can’t seem to get the comment to post.
That happens to me fairly often because my responses are so long that I kinda get logged out. It says “failure to captcha” or something. I’ve never been able to post what I wrote without rewriting it. It’s annoying, I know.
Ah, thanks! I’ll remember that!
Hello both of you! Sorry for disappearing again! Loads has happened since we last spoke, once more. I cannot get into much detail as we are camping. But., I will try to sum it up and then revisit for in depth explanation later. Her second egg sac hatched! Very successful. We count 27 spiderlings. So excited! Not sure Anastasia is content, though. First, she is mostly attending to her third egg sac. But, a baby approached her and she “back-slapped” when he touched her leg. When he approached again and touched her, she attacked him, spun him, seemingly wrapping him… Read more »
I do have video of her slapping and attacking that baby. I post them on youtube in a few days.
I’m so glad your second batch of babies came out all right! It sounds like a very successful hatch! It’s difficult to find information on how stress changes spiders’ behavior. Most of the information available comes from the tarantula hobby. Signs of stress in tarantulas include threat displays, flicking urticating hairs, hiding behind their knees, and being overactive. Stressed mother tarantulas are known to consume their egg sacs but not hatchlings. Here is an excerpt from an article from a study on maternal care, including adoption, in wolf spiders. The researchers observed the result of introducing broods of spiderlings to… Read more »