Spider ID Request

psander · #1 (**permalink**) 17-08-2009, 04:53 PM

Hi, I wonder if anyone could identify my spider please?

I recently read an article about the Steatoda spiders in Britain but didn't pay too much attention to it. Then a few days later I saw what I thought might have been spider of that type in my bathroom. I shunted it outside and thought little of it. Then a couple of days later (today) I found another one in almost the same place but with different colouration, pictured below. This grabbed my attention a it more so I decided to look into it and took some photos this time.

I've trawled this forum and learnt lots about spiders that I never knew were here, but I can't seem to find a close enough match to the one I found to be able to positively ID it by myself.

I've been looking mainly at Steatoda Nobilis/Grossa etc, but the more I look, the more I'm convinced that this can't be one of those. It doesn't have the characteristic colouration of either as far as I can see, so I figured this must be something more common that I haven't been looking for. Any ideas?

It's body is about the size of a 5 pence piece, and it was found In my bathroom in Nottingham.

I'm not normally this curious about the names of various crawlies, I normally dismiss them all as house spiders and move them on, but this website and the article I read has made me a little bit more interested.

PS: If this does turn out to be one of the false widow spiders I know they're not particularly dangerous or aggressive. I'm not worried

Thanks for reading.

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 17-08-2009, 05:13 PM

Hi P, and welcome to WAB!

As far as I can make out, it's an Amaurobius sp.

Venger · #3 (**permalink**) 17-08-2009, 05:42 PM

Don't worry about Steatoda nobilis you're to far north for them (S.grossa has a limited distribution - not seen one in Nottingham).

I'd agree, looks like an Amaurobius sp (these can nip, but nothing to worry about - (barring allergic reactions of course), more like a bee or wasp sting - but only in self defence)

Oh and if you're talking about the articles in the papers about Steatoda nobilis - ignore them - whoever wrote that story didn't even bother doing any basic research, it was over-sensationalised claptrap!

psander · #4 (**permalink**) 17-08-2009, 06:08 PM

Thanks for the welcome and the replies. With a name to put to the face google confirmed your suggestions! I'm surprised I've never seen one of these before since they appear to be quite common all over the UK, but I guess I could put that down to moving to a more wildlife friendly area of the country.

Don't worry. I know sensationalism when I see it. It was actually a BBC article I stumbled across first, then I went to the Natural History Museum pages so I got some quite well measured information before I looked further and found one on Sky News "Deadly Widow Weaves Web Across Britain" I saw right through it!

It was more the comparison to a wasp sting that worried me if anything! I'm terrified of wasps and her stings, but I soon learnt that spiders aren't anywhere near as aggressive.