spider identification

[oonagh35]

hi i just registered on your forum...i have a photo of a spider i would like u to identify if u can....i was a bit worried whilst trying to make breakfast this morning because i had to walk underneath it all the time...lol
btw the spider is about one inch long and just to update this i have just discovered that there are two of them


ps ignore the cobwebs on my ceiling lol

[tracy]

Originally Posted by oonagh35

hi i just registered on your forum...i have a photo of a spider i would like u to identify if u can....i was a bit worried whilst trying to make breakfast this morning because i had to walk underneath it all the time...lol
btw the spider is about one inch long and just to update this i have just discovered that there are two of them


ps ignore the cobwebs on my ceiling lol

hello have just signed up with the same question.we have had these in the brickwork of our garage for some time.one really big one actually went after by husband reared up on it's hind legs.son and husband said only funnel webs do that!!have been telling them not to be stupid,but after finding another really big one over the weekend with the biggest black looking jelly bean of a abdomon i have spent the last hour looking at funnel web images.well they look just like it only thing is they are not supposed to be in the uk.yours looks like a smaller one.my son has got one alive in a tub,but we don't know who to ask about it.i was going to ring bristol zoo,but am worried they will think i'm a right nutter.

[oonagh35]

now im scared lol cos they gave gone into the woodwork so to speak

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by tracy

.my son has got one alive in a tub,but we don't know who to ask about it.i was going to ring bristol zoo,but am worried they will think i'm a right nutter.

Spiders are notoriously difficult to identify and need very good photos if a proper identification is to be made. The lack of replies to this thread indicate that no-one can tell from this picture (I certainly can't).
Bristol zoo won't think you're a nutter if you ring them-ask if they have a British spider expert, or if they know anyone you can contact. Most (but not all) experts will happily take a look at a specimen, but be warned the reply could take a long time coming back. Funnel-web spiders are unlikely to have colonised British houses without some sort of media scare, although the family is represented in Britain. Many other groups of spider will rear up when threatened though and so this behaviour cannot be classed as diagnostic. There are no deadly spiders in Britain.
Hope that helps, let us know how you get on.

[sean morgan walker]

Originally Posted by oonagh35

hi i just registered on your forum...i have a photo of a spider i would like u to identify if u can....i was a bit worried whilst trying to make breakfast this morning because i had to walk underneath it all the time...lol
btw the spider is about one inch long and just to update this i have just discovered that there are two of them


ps ignore the cobwebs on my ceiling lol

I know this is an old post but I had a very similar spider scuttle over my hand while I was cleaning pots in the garden. Turns out she was a pregnant TREADORA GROSSA and quite harmless. Can't be 100% certain but this looks like the same beastie.

[GRH]

The spider in the photo resembles an Amaurobius sp., which are common around houses (especially A. similis) and do wander in now and again. One inch is too big for an Amaurobius, however. When you say one inch I assume you mean body length not including legs? It could be gravid (pregnant). It's certainly not a Steatoda grossa.

The problem with the name 'funnel web spider' is that all it means is a spider that lives in a funnel web (rather than the Sydney Funnel web (Atrax robustus) specifically). From the description in the second post the spider is almost ceratinly Segestria florentina. This is commonly known as the funnel-web or tube-web spider. It is large, has a long dark grey or black abdomen (elongated or 'jelly-bean' like because it lives in holes) and they rear back on their hind legs when threatened. It's not native but has become naturalised in this country over the past 100-years or so. It can give a painful (but not dangerous) bite (as can most Steatoda spp.).

NB: There are around 650 species of spider in the UK and the only reliable way of identifying most of them is under a microscope.

Greg

[tracy]

hello Greg thank you for your post,i have just typed the name you gave into google and there are our spiders.we live 9 miles outside of the old port of bristol,and 4 miles from the bristol channel.i really hope these are not too dangerous as they are all over the house and garage. although i'm still covered in goose bumps from finding out what they are after all this time,i really appreciate you taking the time to respond to an old post. thanks TRACY.