Tegenaria duellica?

[Cydaea]

Caught this one running across the living room floor. Am I right for thinking it's a Tegenaria duellica (Giant house spider) ? It looks a bit too leggy to be Tegenaria domestica (Common house spider).

I tried taking a picture of it's underside but it won't sit still...

eta: pics are a bit blurry because I had to take them through the lid, this thing is FAST. It's about 3-3,5" DLS.

 

[Ciphor]

It's definitely Tegenaria, but for Netherlands there is no way to be certain of species without genitalia inspection. Tegenaria saeva & Tegenaria duellica are so identical that they are capable of hybridization, and Tegenaria atrica is not far off in terms of appearance. Not sure if all 3 species are found in Netherlands, but I'd bet they are.

 

[Cydaea]

Thank you. It could actually be either of those 3, as they're all common around here too, and pictures tell me they're indeed pretty much identical. I guess we'll never know for sure I still can't get a picture of the underside, and she(?) does not enjoy being in a cup. I contemplated keeping her as a pet, but I'm just gonna let her go.

 

[Heckboy]

They do make sweet pets, though.
Grabbed mine last summer as a juvenile behind the toilet, now an adult female who recently made what seems to be a sterile eggsac.
Voracious eaters, and totally docile.
You're right about them being fast - that's the only reason I never handle mine.
The T. duellica, iirc, holds the record for world's fastest spider.

EDIT - just thought to check wiki:

With speeds clocked at 1.73 ft/s (0.53 m/s), the giant house spider held the Guinness Book of World Records for top spider speed until 1987 when it was displaced by sun spiders (solfugids) although the latter are not true spiders as they belong to a different order.

 

[MarkmD]

Yeah look like a T,duellica I have one just now (in a deli container), they are brilliant spiders web and eat like hell lol.

 

[Ciphor]

They do make sweet pets, though.
Grabbed mine last summer as a juvenile behind the toilet, now an adult female who recently made what seems to be a sterile eggsac.
Voracious eaters, and totally docile.
You're right about them being fast - that's the only reason I never handle mine.
The T. duellica, iirc, holds the record for world's fastest spider.

EDIT - just thought to check wiki:

I believe that record is only for true spiders too. Some tarantulas school true spiders on speed. Could be wrong though lol.

 

[Heckboy]

I believe that record is only for true spiders too. Some tarantulas school true spiders on speed. Could be wrong though lol.

Maybe it just seems faster when it's charging up the tongs at you.

 

[Tarantula_Hawk]

It's a Tegenaria atrica, considering both its appearance (there are some slight differences between this species and the other two) and its distribution. T. atrica is the only one of the three to be found in central Europe. The other two are quite limited, and are mainly distributed in the UK and in a few other countries in western Europe (namely France and the Iberian Peninsula) and Sweden. Any large similar Tegenaria to be found in central European countries is going to be T. atrica.

As for the speed thing, i've never agreed with that and always thought that it ended up on the Guinness simply because it was a common and "scary" house spider. Yes they are fast, and that is only when they are on their web (definitely not the fastest thing in the world when they are out..) but they are nowhere near on being the fastest.
Any large-ish tropical Sparassidae or arboreal Ctenidae is light years faster for example.

 

[Entomancer]

Whoa, whoa, wait a second.

I caught a T. duellica myself not long ago (very, very cool spider), and it's pretty fast, but is it really the fastest Araneomorph?

Everybody here who has experience with huntsman spiders says that they are the fastest, and that they make even the fastest mygalomorphs look like molasses.

 

[Ciphor]

Whoa, whoa, wait a second.

I caught a T. duellica myself not long ago (very, very cool spider), and it's pretty fast, but is it really the fastest Araneomorph?

Everybody here who has experience with huntsman spiders says that they are the fastest, and that they make even the fastest mygalomorphs look like molasses.

Might be the fastest true, might not. I personally feel like my pokies are much faster, so was my obt. I'm not sure if its faster then my huntsman or not, but they are really quick on their webs, lightning quick. Sometimes it's almost like they blink to their food and blink back into their funnel.

 

[aSpiderificGirl]

Maybe we should hold some sort of spider track meet :tongue:

LOL :roflmao: