Pest Guide: Spiders

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	American House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) The American house spider is an extremely common spider that is fairly likely to escape notice since it tends to build its tangled web in secluded locations. Its behavior on its web is quiet and efficient, so it generally does not draw attention to itself. There are several species of this genus, Achaearania. Their coloration consists generally in patterns of shades of brown, and they are rather dull in appearance, all of which makes it more easy for them to slip into the background. They are not known to bite people with any high degree of frequency, and their venom is not known to be dangerous to human beings.
	Black Widow Spiders (Lactrodectus mactans) Black widow spiders are most recognized for the red hourglass shape under their abdomen. Contrary to legend, female black widow spiders rarely devour the male black widow spider after mating.
	Brown Recluse Spiders (Loxosceles reclusa) Brown recluse spiders have a characteristic dark brown violin marking on their back.
	Wolf Spider (Rhabidosa rabida) Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae. They are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. They live mostly solitary lives and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short distances. Some will even wait for passing prey in or near the mouth of a burrow. There are many genera of wolf spider, ranging in body size from less than 1 to 30 millimetres (0.04 to 1.18 in). They have eight eyes arranged in three rows. The bottom row consists of four small eyes, the middle row has two very large eyes (which distinguishes them from the Pisauridae), and the top row has two medium-sized eyes.

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