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Theridion

Picture ID 54940

Picture of Theridion - Dorsal
  • Submitted by: 
    Jewells
  • Submitted: Mar 21, 2019
  • Photographed: Mar 21, 2019
  • Spider: Theridion
  • Location: Florida, United States
  • Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
  • Found in web?: Yes
  • Attributes: Dorsal
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TangledWeb

I don’t know which one it is yet, this is a tangledweb / cobweb spider. Cobweavers are easy to recognize by their messy webs. They only seem to stop using them when the web gets too dusty to be sticky. The trick is that prey doesn’t recognize the mess as an active spider web. There are triplines of silk hidden in there that alert the spider to a visitor. I read that the spider grabs the prey and wraps it in the tufts of web nearby rather than spending the time to make new silk to wrap it in. That’s… Read more »

TangledWeb

You’re very welcome! I find the diversity of spiders’ hunting techniques interesting. My husband just showed me an interesting video of how a bolas orbweaver hunts with a long gooey strand of silk that they can whack moths with. Moths don’t stick well to webs so the bolas spider has a lot of wet adhesive that soaks through the layers the moth can shed.

ItsyBitsy

Hi, I can get to to genus at least. This looks like one of the Cobweb Spiders in the genus Theridion. There are a bunch of very similar looking ones in the genus. Here is one similar but probably not the same: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1254617/bgpage

Additional Pictures

Picture of Theridion spp. - Dorsal Enlarge Picture
Picture of Theridion spp. - Male - Dorsal Enlarge Picture
Picture of Theridion spp. Enlarge Picture
Picture of Theridion spp. - Dorsal Enlarge Picture