Texas Spider Encounters

by Jerry Cates

Click here to go to Reports & Photos of Spider Encounters for 2007

Giant Spider Web in Texas (August 2007)

In Wills Point, Texas, at the Tawakoni State Park (40 miles northeast of Dallas) a complex spider web covering over 200 yards of trail has caught the attention of park officials, arachnologists, and the public. This unusual, but not unheard of, event has focused new light on the subject of spider sociality, an arcane field that engages a select group of scientists and investigators, including Dr. Ingi Agnarsson, a research scholar at Akron University. An excellent analysis of the subject, with numerous links to related articles on the Internet, can be found on a page prepared by Mike Quinn, a biologist with Texas Parks & Wildlife (be sure to scroll down that page to read all the material in its body).  I am presently studying a small congregation of thousands of grass spiders in a large shrub in Canton, Texas, and will be publishing my findings here before long. As Mike Quinn's page shows, such congregations of spiders are not unusual, but when they make enormous communal webs like that found in Tawakoni State Park, the public suddenly becomes interested in arachnid biology. That's a good thing...

A. Spiders just in.  The submissions shown directly below are still being processed:

B. Processed spider photos and reports. Click on a photo for details:

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This and the pages that follow provide basic technical and anecdotal information on spiders encountered in Texas, as well as in the United States at large, and--for spiders of unusual medical importance--throughout the world. Visitors are invited to contribute personal experiences and photographs, which are posted with added remarks as time permits. Please contact me via email or telephone (512-331-1111).

If you send photos via email attachment, please attach the highest resolution images available. Be sure to include information on where the spider encounter took place, and the date of the encounter, if known. I try to reply to emails the moment I read them, as I've learned from experience that they may not get answered at all otherwise.

In order to reply to emails about spiders quickly, my replies are often terse and pithy, rather than long and detailed. At minimum I try to identify your spider to species and gender, and tell you if it is considered dangerously harmful.

In the editorial comments I supply with the posted photographs found on the following links, I often include technicalities obtained from textbooks, published papers, guides, or books authored by imminent authorities in the fields of zoology, biology, or arachnology.  Whenever practical, but not always, these authorities are identified. Unless I specifically note that a technical observation was my own, you may presume it came from another source. Anyone desiring to know the source of an observation mentioned in these pages is invited to inquire of me in that regard. Obviously, any identification of a specimen to species and/or gender is my own, thus all errors in such identifications are mine alone.

If you find errors in any of the material posted here, please point them out to me so corrections may be made.

Two lists of species presently included (photos and text) on this site follow:

I. Alphabetical order, by Common Name:

--BROWN RECLUSE:

12 June 2007, brown recluse spiders in Texas (DFW Area)

--DADDY LONG-LEGS:

Opiliones-- Burleson, TX--14 May 2007

--CRAB SPIDERS:

Australian crab spider (Thomisus spectabilis), Max Badgley Collection

--FISHING SPIDERS:

31 July 2007, cow's face spider (Pisauridae), Cedar Park, Texas

31 July 2007, nursery web spider (Pisauridae) male, Cedar Park, Texas

3 July 2007, dark fishing spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus), Porter, Texas

--LYNX SPIDERS:

2006, green lynx (Peucetia viridans), Round Rock, Texas

--JUMPING SPIDERS (Salticidae):

2 June 2007, redbacked jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni), San Isidro, Texas

15 May 2007, bold jumping spider (Phidippus audax), Harker Heights, Texas

--WIDOW SPIDERS:

16 June 2006, southern black widow (Latrodectus mactans), Jacksonville, Texas

12 April 2007, southern black widow female (Latrodectus mactans), Jacksonville, Texas

12 April 2007, southern black widow male (Latrodectus mactans), Jacksonville, Texas

--CREVICE WEB SPIDERS (BROWN RECLUSE LOOK-ALIKE):

1995, southern house spider (Kukulcania hibernalis), Central Texas

--ORBWEAVERS:

11 August 2007, orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta) adult female, The Woodlands, Texas

28 July 2007, banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata) hatchlings, Justin, Texas

28 July 2007, yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) adult female, Justin, Texas

21 July 2007, banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata), Justin, Texas

21 July 2007, giant lichen orbweaver (Araneus bicentenarius), Helotes, Texas

19 July 2007, giant lichen orbweaver (Araneus bicentenarius), Helotes, Texas

15 July 2007, golden silk orbweaver (Nephila clavipes) adult female, Houston, Texas

12 July 2007, golden silk orbweaver (Nephila clavipes), Houston, Texas

15 June 2007, western spotted orbweaver (Neoscona oaxacensis), San Antonio, Texas

6 June 2007, western spotted orbweaver, Female (Neoscona oaxacensis), Dripping Springs, Texas

6 June 2007, western spotted orbweaver, Male (Neoscona oaxacensis), Dripping Springs, Texas

3 June 2007, arabesque orbweaver (Neoscona arabesca), Houston, Texas

1 June 2007, spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis), Houston, Texas

2006, yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), College Station, Texas

2006. spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis), College Station, Texas

2002, yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), San Antonio, Texas

2002, yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), Southlake, Texas 

 2001, yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), Round Rock, Texas

--TARANTULAS:

Texas tarantula (Aponopelma spp.): Manchaca, Texas--23 March 2007

--WOLF SPIDERS (Lycosidae):

Temple, Texas--2003

Harker Heights, Texas--19 April 2007

Harker Heights, Texas--15 April 2007

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II. By Taxa:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda (Crustaceans, Insects, Spiders, and their relatives)

Class: Arachnida (Eight legs, one to two body parts)

Order: Opiliones (The Harvestmen)

Harvestmen are not spiders, but look much like them from a distance.  They have two eyes, one body part, and breathe from trachea. The most commonly seen harvestman is the Daddy Long-legs:

Family: Phalangiidae  (Daddy Long-Legs):

Burleson, TX--14 May 2007

Order: Araneae (The Spiders)

Spiders have from six to eight eyes (most often eight), and the abdomen is attached to the cephalothorax by a narrow stalk.  All spiders produce silk. Many use it to trap insects in webs, though many others hunt freely, unencumbered by the need to remain in one location as web-bound spiders do. All spiders, except those in the families Uloboridae and Holarchaeidae, and in the suborder Mesothelae, are able to inject venom to protect themselves or to kill and pre-digest prey. Approximately 40,000 species of spiders have been identified.  The vast majority are beneficial to man, by virtue of the control they exercise over insects and other pests. Only 200 of that total--i.e., about one half of one percent--have bites known to pose health problems to humans.  Many others produce bites that can be painful, but that do not cause lasting health problems.

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Suborder: Mygalomorphae (Tarantulas and Australasian Funnel-web Spiders)

Members of this suborder have stout legs and bodies, with downward-pointing chelicerae.  Tarantulas found in Texas are not dangerous, though they do bite and inject venom.

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Superfamily: Theraphosoidea (Tarantulas):

Family: Theraphosidae  (113 genera, 897 species):

Genus: Aphonopelma:

Species: Aphonopelma spp. (Tarantulas)

At least 14 separate species of tarantulas from the genus Aphonopelma are represented in Texas.  Species identification cannot be done without performing microscopic examination of mature males.

***The Texas Tarantula: Manchaca, Texas--23 March 2007***

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Suborder: Araneomorphae (The Common Spiders, excluding the Mygalomorphs [tarantulas] and Mesothelae [segmented spiders])

Members of this suborder have chelicerae (jaws and mouthparts) that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae (tarantulas and their close kin), which have chelicerae that point straight down. Most of the spiders encountered by people belong to this suborder.  This suborder is presently divided into 28 superfamilies,  nearly 100 families, over 3,600 genera, and some 39,000 species:

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Superfamily: Filistatoidea (Crevice Weavers):

Family: Filistatidae (16 genera, 109 species of Crevice Weavers):

Genus: Kukulcania:

Species: Kukulcania hibernalis (Southern House Spider)

This is one of the most common house spiders found in the southern states, including Texas.  Male specimens are often pointed out to me, by home and business owners, as brown recluse spiders, because they are brown in color, with a darker brown marking on the carapace that superficially resembles a violin.  The female is much darker in color, often with conspicuous white coxae--the first joint of each leg, where the leg attaches to the thorax--and is only rarely mistaken for a brown recluse. Some authorities claim that the male of this species lacks the violin marking, but that claim--in my opinion--is a mere technicality that stems from disparate views on what a "fiddle marking" looks like.  Other authorities agree that it is almost impossible to distinguish between this species and the brown recluse with the naked eye, though a microscopic examination of the head easily reveals that the southern house spider has eight eyes, arranged in two clusters of four, while the brown recluse has six eyes arranged in three pairs. Click on the following link for a close look at the southern house spider:

***A Brown Recluse Look-Alike: Central Texas--1995***

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Superfamily: Scytodoidea (False violin, Spitting, and Recluse Spiders):

Family: Sicariidaea (Recluse Spiders):

Genus: Loxosceles :

Species: Loxosceles reclusa (Brown Recluse Spider)

Note: Though I've collected and studied spiders throughout all of Texas (except the northern half of the panhandle) for almost thirty years, I've never found a brown recluse anywhere in the state.  Many look-alikes, however, have been pointed out to me. It happens that a variety of spiders have exterior appearances that are "brown-recluse-like", but that--on close examination of the eyes--are found to be another, harmless, species (e.g., Kukulcania hibernalis, the southern house spider, described above).  Anyone, especially in Texas, who finds a spider they believe to be a brown recluse is urged to contact me via email or by telephone:  512-331-1111-- Jerry Cates. 

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Superfamily: Aranenoidea (Orb-weavers, Dward/Money Spiders, Large-jawed, and Cobweb Spiders):

Family: Araneidae (Orb Weavers):

This family, along with the Uloborids, generally spins orb webs, and includes over 3,500 species found throughout the world.  Nearly 200 species are found in the United States and in Canada.  They have poor vision, and use threads in their webs to locate prey.  Captured prey are approached, wrapped in silk, inoculated with venom, and carried to a retreat (the center of the web or a sheltered corner) where edible portions of the prey are eaten.

Genus: Argiope:

Species: Argiope aurantia Lucas (Yellow Garden Spider; Writing Spider)

Superfamily: Lycosoidea (Wolf, Lynx, Nursery Web, Zorocratid, and Zoropsid Spiders):

Family: Lycosidae (Wolf Spiders):

Genus: Lycosa