
Comments & ID Thoughts
Black house spider?
Are they dangerous?
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: May 13, 2019
- Photographed: May 9, 2019
- Spider: Amaurobius ferox (Black Lace-Weaver)
- Location: Stockbridge, Massachusetts, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes: Dorsal
Please help identify this spider….is it a black house spider and are they dangerous?
Hi, this is a Black Lace-weaver (Amaurobius ferox). Like most spiders they have venom but are unlikely to bite except in self-defense and are not considered to be of medical significance. Everyone’s immune system is different though.
Thanks so much! He was very large and intimidating, but I was able to get him outside.
Thanks for handling it kindly. I live in southern NH and have them outdoors and in my cellar. They live in the holes in my house’s stone foundation eating pillbugs and centipedes. They make flat webs on the walls and floor with the webs funneling into the holes where the spiders live. If I tug on a web, one will stick its head out to see what’s happening. It’s kinda cute. They seem to peacefully coexist with my other cellar spiders, Pholcus phalangiodes.