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Comments & ID Thoughts
Eastern Parsons spider
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Nov 7, 2025
- Photographed: Nov 6, 2025
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Brighton, suburb, Rochester, New York, New York, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Ground layer (leaf litter, dirt, grass, etc)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
I don’t think so, looks more like maybe a purseweb spider.
Genus Sphodros – BugGuide.Net
Thanks for adding links! I’m having trouble logging in at Bugguide, I’ve changed my username too many times and my account is a mess 😉 Maybe a Blacklace Weaver? https://spiderid.com/spider/amaurobiidae/amaurobius/ferox/ They’re fuzzy, like the one in the photo. They feel kinda cute to touch. I gently grab them sometimes in my cellar to show them to people.
I don’t see them often but handled a couple. Mistaken for southern house spider.
They’re really easy to catch by pulling the outer flat portion of the funnel web, they come out of the niche with the web. I’ve done it accidentally while cleaning. My cellar has a fungus that is a “zombie parasite” on the Cellar Spiders, but it doesn’t seem to infect the Black Lace Weavers.
Very interesting but this spider was not in a web.
I use a chopstic and ‘tickle’ the web in a fringe area, that brings them out.
Quick enough with a hand, block their return and may just crawl onto your hand.
They are a bit quick if spooked maybe drop and run. Not so fast you cant corral them with hands thena matter of coaxing onto a hand.
Works great with Southern House Spiders too.
Thanks again for the information. I never picked up a spider before. There are a lot of orb weavers in my garden in Florida so I’ll try to check this out.
Over the years, I used to catch and keep spiders, mostly by hand for behavior study. They would rather not interact with humans. The last couple decades, I may catch spiders by reason like relocating, putting out of harms way, and such. The weather cooling, orb weavers slow downso catching is moot. Avoid trapping them against the skin, they won’t bite.
Thank you for the clarification.