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Comments & ID Thoughts
It was found with two others under a drawer base. With little white fluffy balls.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Jan 9, 2022
- Photographed: Jan 9, 2022
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Mijas, Spain
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Steatoda paykulliana. She’s not medically dangerous to people or pets. a common name for her is a False Widow. They are good indoor spiders, they eat many kinds of insects that are considered pests.
This spider more closely matches Steatoda Triangulosa to me. The triangular markings on Steatoda Paykulliana are often smoother, while on Steatoda Triangulosa they appear more mottled (Almost like peened silver?). That’s how I tell the difference at least 🙂
I was hoping you would give your thoughts on it! Both species are found in Spain. I was going by the width of the markings, totally unscientific. The markings on Steatoda spp. may be the brown areas, they are on top of the metallic layer with uncolored chitin “windows”, I think. I used bright flashlights to observe mine to see how they shine. I get desperate to observe spiders doing stuff in January!
Same! I always spend more time on this site in the winter since we have no spiders this far north because of the cold. One of these days I need to learn more about spider colouration, since it seems like such an interesting subject I would definitely spend months researching.
It is 5 degrees F here (New Hampshire). It makes the spiders in the house (Black LaceWeavers, Cellar Spiders, S. borealis, and S. triangulosa) much more interesting. I’ve enjoyed trips to southern states in the Winter because there are insects, reptiles, plants, and spiders to observe. Nobody I was with shared my enthusiasm. Winter is my indoor study time too. BugGuide volunteers have been very kind in teaching me things. Feel free to debate my identifications or other statements. I’ve only done this about 3 years and only had routine oversight of my answers for about my first year. I… Read more »
It’s about the same in Michigan! I recently joined BugGuide, currently I’m lurking to get a feel for the site. I find wolf spiders tricky too, they are all way to similar for me to distinguish well.