Spider. House. Mystery

cypher000 · #1 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 09:00 PM

Hi Guy's. Found this little creature roving round in my Kitchen and managed to coax it into having it's photo taken. But cannot find a description of it anywhere. I would love to know what it's species and name is, both latin and otherwise. Can anyone spare me a minute of their time to help me out. Have placed a photo in the Image Library. Regards Walt.

Lancashire Lad · #2 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 09:16 PM

Hi, and welcome to WAB.

Your photo is in the Image Library, but to stand a better chance with ID's etc., you really need to copy any uploaded photos into your posts/threads.

If you follow the info here:-
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...tml#post804316
It will take you through the steps needed.

As for your spider- I'm no entomologist, but I'd say it was a Tegenaria domestica. (Or a very closely related species

).

Regards,
Mike.

faz · #3 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 09:18 PM

cant find photo

cypher000 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 09:29 PM

Sorry for the confusion. Will have to try harder to get my photo's into my posts. Will have another go. Please bear with me. Regards Walt.

[url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/archive/showphoto.php?photo=181539]

No.9 Spider · #5 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 09:38 PM

It's a mature male Amaurobius fenestralis. No common name I'm afraid.

....................welcome to WAB

cypher000 · #6 (**permalink**) 01-12-2011, 09:45 PM

Wow! Many thanks for the brilliance shown. That you are all experts, goes without saying and I appreciate your help so much. Spider No 9. I bow to your wisdom. Again, many thanks. Walt.

faz · #7 (**permalink**) 02-12-2011, 06:06 AM

[quote=No.9 Spider;852251]It's a mature male Amaurobius fenestralis. No common name I'm afraid.

hi no.9 is this not known as a lace webbed spider or is that just A. similis

No.9 Spider · #8 (**permalink**) 02-12-2011, 08:36 AM

I think 'Laced web spider' applies to Amaurobiidae as a whole rather than a particular species.

MattPrince · #9 (**permalink**) 02-12-2011, 05:25 PM

Ok I'm going to be my usual awkward self and ask... why not a. similis? That is more often found indoors than a. fenestralis which is usually (but not always) found outside. It also looks fairly dark.

..also I see eurospider has a. fenestralis down as the "window lace weaver" a play on the latin name.

Cheers,
Matt

No.9 Spider · #10 (**permalink**) 03-12-2011, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattPrince

Ok I'm going to be my usual awkward self and ask... why not a. similis? That is more often found indoors than a. fenestralis which is usually (but not always) found outside. It also looks fairly dark.

..also I see eurospider has a. fenestralis down as the "window lace weaver" a play on the latin name.

Cheers,
Matt

No problem Matt, A. fenestralis/similis can often be difficult to distinguish by eye though with certain specimens can be fairly obvious if you've had a bit of experience. I'm quite confident that the specimen is A. fenestralis, mainly due to the sharp and dark appearance of the cardiac mark, with no evidence of a lighter line through it along the median line.
The paler median line that splits the cardiac mark can be quite obvious in some specimens of A. similis, though as I say there are many that fall between the two.
Most references I remember give 'lace webbed spiders' as an overall description for Amaurobiidae, though the name 'window lace weaver' as many common names is not particularly helpful (concerning specifically A. fenestralis) as it derives from 'fenetre' - window (as far as I can remember) and not the actual haunt of the spider which as you point out is not particularly associated with houses as we find with A. similis.
Originally fenestralis/similis were thought to be one species and so were all labelled A. fenestralis. When they identified as being separate species the name of A. similis was, I suppose, allocated to the 'wrong' one!