What a <EDIT> is that and how it managed to get inside!?

[Murziukas]

During my dayly routine on my scorpions I noticed some spiderwebs in one of the tanks.
1: never seen this "widow-shaped" spider in a wild
2: how it managed to get in to my tank (my scorpions are CB), soil is coconut fiber? :?
3: any chances of identifying this fellow?

Some more details: ~ 5 mm in total body lenght (with legs), it's been really cold winter so it's not from outside (what means domestic). Never fed my scorpions WC prey. I'm located in Vilnius, Lithuania. My tanks have ventilation with holes, not bigger than 1 mm. Sorry for photo quality, but that's all I was able to do.

 

[AfterTheAsylum]

I have one of those in a few of my cages. I leave them there. They prevent any other things from getting or thriving inside the cage. My Ts and they cohabit just fine. I doubt it is any harm to your scorpions. It is just a house spider. I look at it this way, if the spider stays in the cage, you won't be having fly problems if for some reason flies come.

T.S.

 

[Stefan-V]

I would just keep my eye on it, in case you might find an eggsack; I wouldn't want 150 little spiders in my T's enclosure.

Stefan-V

 

[Natco]

I have one of those in a few of my cages. I leave them there. They prevent any other things from getting or thriving inside the cage. My Ts and they cohabit just fine. I doubt it is any harm to your scorpions. It is just a house spider. I look at it this way, if the spider stays in the cage, you won't be having fly problems if for some reason flies come.

I adopt a similar philosophy when it comes to small indigenous spiders sharing my larger spiders' cages. I even occasionally put the little guys in there.

 

[aunttigger]

Those annoying things are 'false widows'. They do help w/the flies but they also help themselves to the crix! If you find an egg sac REMOVE IT! Not only are there about 150 slings but each one of them survive it seems like! They aren't venemous and I read on the net somewhere that they prey on black widows - I thought it was crazy but thats what it said! Good luck! They do have cool designs huh?!?

 

[aunttigger]

if youre real quick - on the very last page of the 'true spiders' forum the very last post is entitled dangerous invaders - check it out, they are the same spiders. I am in AZ, boy they must get around!!

 

[Malhavoc's]

And I go to post and the problem is answered, I used those lil guys in frog enclosures, They eat flies, they get big, they lay egg sac.. spider eats them.. And their young are small enough to fit through most tank screening=how it got in most likely.

 

[Murziukas]

Ok, I'm pretty sure it's not venomous as we don't have venomous invertebrates in this part of Europe (exept the ones that are kept at home on free will). Tried some more pics today. Not the best quality I guess... How big thay get and what's the latin name of this intruder? As I was consulted it could be Theridiidae?

 

[NRF]

What you have there is a Naminis brėžius

 

[NRF]

http://lietvorai.puslapiai.lt/steatoda_grossa.htm

 

[Kugellager]

Most likely a colormorph of the common house spider Achaearanae tepidariorum. They are ubiquetous around the world and their color pattern varies widely. I have them all over the closet (and room) where I keep my bugs. I let them stay as they take care of any unwanted bugs in the room including escaped crickets. They are otherwise harmless.

I use them as my little clean-up army.

John
];')

 

[Venom]

Kug,

That doesn't look like Achaearanea to me. The abdomen shape is wrong for that genus, and the cream-colored C-band on the forward rim of the abdomen suggests strongly that it is Steatoda. A.tepid' coloration certainly varies, but these markings simply aren't A. tepid' markings, and I've NEVER seen that maroon ab' on an Achaearanea. I'm speaking, of course, about native US Achaearanea, but I really don't see any Achaearanea looking anything like this here spider.

 

[Kugellager]

It very well could be.

I just have so many of the A.tepidariorum in my house/room and they run the color gamut from the bland 'sterotypical' versions of them to ones that 'look' thae same color-wise as the one in the photo above...Admittedly it was a quick knee-jerk assement.

Some Steatoda Links
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Steatoda&search=Search

http://www.uark.edu/depts/entomolo/museum/steatoda.html

http://www.spiderzrule.com/steatoda.htm


Some A.tepidariorum Links
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6919/bgimage

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Achaearanea_tepidariorum.html

http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu/spiderweb/SpiderPictures/Theridiidae/Achaearanea tepidariorum.htm



EDIT: ...and I didn't stop to read all the posts as I should have..

John
];')

 

[cricket54]

I did have a baby "house spider" get into a tiny jar with a very little black widow baby. Found it when I looked in on the widow and saw it biting the L.mactans repeatedly. Of course it died. It didn't seem to try and defend itself at all! This house has these all over the place and they do seem to have different color morphs. The females also create numerous egg cases, 3 or 4 or more for some of them so theres no way I could get rid of them.

Sharon

 

[bengerno]

Hi,

I had a big problem with such spiders in my cockroach colonies. I had left a few nice small spider there, and they made some eggsac and ate almost my whole colony within a few months. So I had to clean out totally and release the spiders elswhere.. So be careful with these critters..maybe they can harm your Ts too!

 

[xanadu1015]

Personally, I like them. Yesterday, my mom and I watched a tiny little house spider catch and (still eating) eat a queen brown wasp inside one the windows in the family room. They are hardy survivors and are very active when it comes to making their webs. I like watching them.



Laura

 

[Scorp guy]

dunno scientific names, buy my guesses are: hobo house spider, huntsman spider, brown/black widow, or brown recluse

 

[lucanidae]

Uhm....
Well....

Hobo Spiders are agelinidae, and don't look anything like that. Agelinids are common grass spiders that makes sheet webs with a funnel and knockdown thread. Just isn't that.

Huntsmen spider (sparrasids) are dorsal-ventrally flattend, that thing has a HUGE abdomen.

Brown recluse? No!

Brown/Black Widow was the best of those suggestions, because it is the same family (Therrididae as mentioned multiple times above), but it's definetly not a black widow which is easy to ID and as for brown...well, it dosen't have the leg lengths that would make it a Latrodectus.

You listed 3 very toxic spiders. Did you know that Hobo spiders that are native to Europe actually don't have strong toxin when compared to the Hobo spiders (supposedly same species) that are invasive aliens here?

 

[Murziukas]

Guys, calm down. There are no widows in this part of Europe. It's too freakin cold here (see for yourself here, it's 1961 - 1990 averages). It's Steatoda sp. (could be grossa) and it won't get very big. There are no life theatening invertebrates in Lithuania Of course the is a chance that aliens aclimatized some evil ones, but I I wouldn't bet on it