Lovely big spiders

[Midnight Rose]

Hello, I've just joined this forum

I would like some help please, I have just taken a photo of the biggest spider I've ever seen wild in the UK. I only got one photo of it before it shot off into the dark, and it doesn't show it's body. It was very big and tall with a large round abdomen. It was standing in a tall, round shape. It wasn't flat like I've seen wolf spiders, and the legs were all pretty evenly far away from the it's body. It was very in proportion, the legs were large and long and the body a good size for the big legs. The only picture I got of it is below, it looks like it's got a grumpy face on! Very sweet.





Also, this is my friendly garage spider, I've called it Petunia. I'd love to know exactly what species it is, we get a lot of them where I live (Hampton, nr Heathrow, Kingston-upon-Thames, Richmond) but she is the biggest one I've seen so far. She's lovely. Am I right in thinking she is a type of wolf spider? Are they both wolf spiders?


This is Petunia:



Any help much appreciated Thanks in advance.

[Pyrausta]

Looks like I should study to be a spider expert. Less competition! I'm not an expert at all, but they look like wolf spiders. Look at the size of the palps! As I understand it, wolf spiders are hunters rather than trappers. They jump on prey and need good venom and speed. Tell me if I got it wrong. The palps reflect this. I think my favorites are zebra spiders. Very bold and aggressive. Also hunters and with a bite that can be unpleasant. I have lots of pholcus phalangoides around the house. These skinny web spinners vibrate rapidly when disturbed and become invisible. I saw some really interesting spiders in Nevada last year, but that is another story.

[Wild-Woman]

That looks like my spider which was Tegenaria duellica.(see my one in Gallery). Big 'ol things that run like Micheal Johnson.WW

[Lance Morgan]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

That looks like my spider which was Tegenaria duellica.(see my one in Gallery). Big 'ol things that run like Micheal Johnson.WW

Looks like common house spider. They can get quite big. My wife and girls hate them but they are quite harmless.

[jezlee]

There are several closely-related species of Tegenaria .... eg domestica, gigantea, duellica .... and very difficult to tell apart. All I know is they can be very big and very scary .... my daughter asked me to go and remove one from the bathroom wall last night - body-wise, he was not very big (males are smaller than females) but his legs .... probably a good 10cm across - and those are when bent!

[Alan]

Hello Midnight Rose, and welcome to WAB

They look like House Spiders to me too. Great pics!

Now being big and tuff like myself, obviously I'm not scarred of spiders, but must admit they do make one jump when they drop on oneself unexpectedly - this always makes me giggle afterwards........I'm just a big kid

OneAl

[Midnight Rose]

Thanks everyone. It's nice to know what it was. Someone I work with (at a university) had emailed my photo to a friend of his who works at the invertebrate section at London Zoo, but I hadn't heard back from them so it was nice to get replies to this

The spider in the top photo was getting on for 10cm Jezlee, maybe 7 or 8. It was mostly the height that was so impressive. You can guess at how tall and big it was, the thing on the bottom right is the edge of a 1 pence piece. The abdomen was enormous, very large and round, so maybe it was a she?

The spider in the bottom photo was 10cm if you measured the longest legs! I'm guessing though, it was above a 9cm light switch (the box around the switch was 9cm across) and it was bigger than that.

I think they are both lovely but I'd never seen one like the top photo before ever, not even a little one. We don't get a lot of spiders in the house. I have a dog, two cats, pet rats and pet ferrets all of these will eat spiders that they find around the place (even though I try to discourage them) so that is probably why I never really see spiders in the house very often. This one was in the garden.

We have loads of Pholcus phalangoides in the garage and the sheds, I spent hours rescuing them when I was painting the garage because they were determind to get painted! (A fetching shade of pink )

I like spiders that have substance, y'know?! Thick legs, big abdomen, well proportioned. I'm not so fond of the spindly spiders, like the huntersman ones or the 'whirly gig' ones!

How long do they live? Can you guess age by their size? I'd love to know how old it was likely to be

(I'm a science geek! lol)

Thanks again everyone

Alison

[Deer Stalker]

I think some of the female 'Teggies' can live for 5 years. Dont know about ageing them though.

[AzureSky]

I have a spider living in my xexexexexexexe, he is about 8cm across and can move quickly. I put a picture of him on Facebook and somebody said he was a Recluse spider.

I emailed a man who studies spiders and he wrote back to say he is not a recluse. Then I got a message from a zoologist who said he was a Common House Spider.

I was glad to know Recluse Spiders live in America and are not found here. (unless they are transported by accident. They are poisonous apparently and can give a nasty bite.

It is a long time since I've seen a big black drain spider. My son had one as a pet. When he took it to school the teacher screamed and made him put it outside. That was the end of our Freddie.

[MattPrince]

Petunia is a he. The palps are modified into complex structures and the legs are longer than the females. Ive heard a few people call "house" spiders "wolf" spiders. If you are one of these..stop! Its a house spider!

There is no such thing as a "common" house spider. Rather there is a complex of several species that all look very similar and many can get quite big. The commonest are the saeva/gigantea (aka deullica) pair with Saeva in the SW and the other everywhere else. Where the two species meet is a broad contact zone where some spiders are not easy determined, even under a microscope, probably hybrids.

Welcome to the teggy fan club.. Awesome aren't they?

Matt