Species: House Spider (Tegenaria domestica)
Family: Funnel Weaver Spiders (AGELENIDAE)
Category: Arachnids
Location: Widespread
A. Arachnids
More extensive information on arachnids can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Funnel Weaver Spiders (AGELENIDAE)
These are fast-running hunting spiders with a toxic venom, but are not a danger to humans. Biochemists are taking an active interest in the possible medical uses of their venom. They have large rear spinnerets.
C. House Spider (Tegenaria domestica)
This species may be found in different shades of brown, with banded legs, and it is familiar inside buildings for its untidy webs with a tubular retreat in one corner.
Additional Information
Spider Information
Most British spiders are venomous hunters but are harmless to us. They are vitally important predators of insects and other invertebrates, controlling their populations. They inject their prey, either caught directly or in their webs, with digestive fluids and then suck out the resulting liquid mass. Most have eight eyes, though some have only six. Spiders are very numerous in the UK with about 650 species from 33 different families.
Unlike insects, young spiders hatch directly from the eggs, looking like miniature versions of the adults. They grow and reach maturity through a series of moults, and most will live about a year or a little longer. Not all spiders build webs, but all can produce silk from spinnerets, which is used for a variety of other purposes, like climbing, tethering, wrapping up prey, creating egg sacs, and making nests. The most familiar spider’s web in the British countryside is the orb web, but there are many other designs, some geometric to a degree, others with a loose or random framework of criss-cross silk threads.
Images
House Spider
This is a long-legged, fast-moving predatory spider, with plain-coloured legs, that is common in houses and gardens, appearing inside houses in the Spring.
