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Comments & ID Thoughts
This spider was in leaf lettuce purchased in Southern New Hampshire today. Weather here has been warm but also, the spider may have hitched a ride from far away where lettuce in currently growing.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Feb 28, 2024
- Photographed: Feb 28, 2024
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Derry, New Hampshire, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Hi! Which store did you buy the lettuce from? I live near you, I’m familiar with them. I don’t recognize it as a local spider. I was outside in the warm weather mucking around and couldn’t find any bugs at all. Just a baby slug, and that doesn’t count. 🙂 Shaws tends to have the most priduce bug sightings because they buy from more organic growers than most of the stores. They’ve made the news many times for their occasional bonus Black Widows. I go to Market Basket and I never get any fun spider surprises, unfortunately. Your spider looks… Read more »
That is a local gal, Steatoda triangulosa. Known to be synenthropic.
Had one in my pantry a couple years.
Species Steatoda triangulosa – BugGuide.Net
She didn’t look quite like one to me, too gray, too long, short legs, but they are quite variable. The ones in my house don’t even look like each other.
Variable here is the thing. Not in a web and exposed they tend to ‘hunke down’, and that can make legs look shorter. the gentle curve of the tarsus on the first pair of legs.
Dorsal shape of the carapace. The ‘sort of’ triangle patterns.
I tried matching to an orb weaver, but the S.triangulosa came closer.
You do know IDing spiders from images is not an exact science, sometimes it is best guess.
Thank you for all the responses. Where I used to work, I was the very unqualified bug getter [and by getter I mean I usually scooped them up and put them in a safe place away from panicked coworkers] Whenever these people saw a spider they would immediately say “it must be a brown recluse” because I think that and tarantula were the only two spider names they knew. This little guy/gal popped up on Facebook from a former coworker and, just like old times, someone posted a pic of a brown recluse that looked nothing like this spider, and… Read more »