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Comments & ID Thoughts
Anyone know what kind of spider this is? It seems to be female, she has her egg sack with her. She is under the patio cover just sitting there with the egg sack.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Apr 27, 2019
- Photographed: Apr 27, 2019
- Spider: Pisaurina mira (Nursery Web Spider)
- Sex:
- Maturity:Adult
- Location: Covington , Louisiana, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes: Egg sacs
Sep 5, 2024
Sep 1, 2024
Mahopac, 
Hi, she looks like a Fishing Spider. I can’t tell which species from the photo. We have reports of three species in your state in genus Dolomedes. It is also possible that she is a Nursery Web Spider. They are related to Fishing Spiders. The characteristic trait is that she is carrying her egg sack under her with her fangs and palps. Wolf spiders carry the sack under them too, but at the posterior end of the spider. They are thought to do this to protect the eggs from parasitic wasps.
Thanks so much for the info, here is another question… Will she die after making her egg sack or does her species not do that, and are they venomous?
Hi, she has venom, like almost all spiders. She needs it for killing prey and to defend herself and her offspring. The parasitic wasps go after the large spiders as hosts for larvae, as well as the egg sacks. The Pisauridae family of spiders includes the fishing spiders and nursery web. They aren’t dangerous, they bite people only out of mortal fear. I watched a nursery web spider that lived in/on my house siding. She had many males come to her. She ate some really big insects. I never saw her move. The male spiders often die before/during/after mating. Females… Read more »
Once again thank you TangledWeb for the information. I think it’s quite fascinating learning about my patio guest!
Tentatively Pisaurina mira (Nursery Web Spider).