Help with Spider ID please

[SW Animal Lover]

Hi

We have just been changing the decking in our garden and uncovered LOTS of spiders! A few rather large 'house' spiders (large brown 'furry' ones) but also at least 20 large black shiny spiders with very round bodies, almost like shiny black marbles. Does anyone have any idea what they could be please? I didnt get too close to them, and having found my camera, something that I couldnt find last time I wanted some help with an id, but the battery needs charging!

There was also a huge spider, with dark brown/blacky and yellow striped legs, large stripes though not lots of little ones as I've seen on some threads on here, its body was shiny, very dark brown/black and had a very faint patern on it with what looked almost like a very faint yellowy cross on its back.

Sorry there are no photos, but does anyone have any ideas please on what these could be and if they are harmful to humans or cats?

Many thanks

[Jason Green]

Ha! Join the interesting decking-revealing-spiders club, the discovery of them and other not-usually-seen invertebrates spurns you on, doesn't it! The round, very shiny ones could be several, but ones fitting this description remind me of false-widows. I uncovered several when I was shifting recently. The ones with faint patterning, try Amaurobius sp.

These are only suggestions for further searching, not IDs.

[SW Animal Lover]

thank you. the one with black/brown and yellow legs, does look similiar to the Amaurobius sp - but it was less furry and more shiny. Especially the legs, they were definitely shiny not furry.

As for the false-widows, they are identical to the ones we saw, expect ours were very big compared to the size all the websites say they grow to. Each decking panel we removed, the spiders got bigger and bigger.

Are they harmful to cats do you know?

[SW Animal Lover]

Having done some research on the net and looking at photos, the one with stripey legs looked like the photos I have seen of the the male Steatoda paykulliana - could therefore the other spiders have been the female of the species. It was rather odd, as when I went to catch the one with stripey legs, on a few occassions it almost strayed into the next compartment on the decking frame but quickly ran back, in the other compartment was one of the round black shiny spiders.

Any thoughts/ideas please?

[Venger]

Depends where you are in the UK?

Steatoda paykulliana isn't a native of the UK though they do get brought in on fruit (it's possible they are breeding, but thats not been confirmed)

Going to need photos I'm afraid - otherwise its blind guess work and sizes as well please, (excluding legs)

You could take a look here to see if you can see anything similar:
Thumbnails of spiders in NW_Europe
Theridiidae Nesticidae,Gumfoot web, scaffold web or cob web spiders

[SW Animal Lover]

HI

I am in Cornwall.

The size of the body, is about 1 - 1.4cm without the head and probably another 3-4mm with the head.

At last! I have managed to upload some photos, hope they help!





Thanks.

[Geoff F]

Going by the size and your photos I think that Steatoda nobilis is a possibility. Your photos look a bit dark all over but I think that females can be a bit less well defined colourwise and the characeristic paler edge to the front of the abdomen may well be hidden by the camera angle.

The better marked specimens could be males, about 10mm head to tail.

So just in case this is correct, don't pick them up for a better look; they won't be a problem otherwise.

Despite living in the far south of Devon, this is one species that I haven't found so far.

For the large brownish spider have a look at Tegenaria sp. The habitat sounds OK for T. duellica but they are rather variable in colour and it is difficult to seperate the species from a photo or just by looking at them. Alternately there are a few larger Wolf Spiders, Lycosidae family, but I'm a bit doubtful. The same goes for Pisaura mirabilis.

On the other hand, Araneus quadratus sounds possible but, as far as I am aware, it is more normally found in a web. But certainly worth a look.

[Venger]

Multiple threads on this one Geoff:
Help with spider ID please, this time with photos! Is this a false widow?

Conclusion was an Amaurobius spp

[Geoff F]

Originally Posted by SW Animal Lover

thank you. the one with black/brown and yellow legs, does look similiar to the Amaurobius sp - but it was less furry and more shiny. Especially the legs, they were definitely shiny not furry.

As for the false-widows, they are identical to the ones we saw, expect ours were very big compared to the size all the websites say they grow to. Each decking panel we removed, the spiders got bigger and bigger.

Are they harmful to cats do you know?

Perhaps I've got it all wrong again. I assumed from this reply that Amaurobius had been ruled out and this brown spider was, as yet, unidentified. While the 'false black widows' were bigger than the previous suggestion.