The Mrs found a cricket in the bed last night. She wasn't too impressed, especially as my step son had one in his room recently and got bitten all over.

__________________
Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Trapdoor Spider, Scorpions, Horned Frog, Snakeheads and to read my blog

It's a yard spider,(Tegeneria agrestis) . I caught one a few years ago and it laid eggs. Let it go with the egg sac in the end. They look bit like small wolf spiders, whether they are related to the house spiders as are the other 2 below.

House Spider (Tegeneria domestica)
Cobweb Spider (Tegeneria gigantea)
Cardinal Spider (Tegeneria parientina)
Yard Spider (Tegeneria agrestis)

__________________
"Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I will
Remember, involve me and I will understand"-Confucius 450BC


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqTzgNP2BK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qZX9Dv0AI4

Heres a beasty thats living in my shed, Its made a massive web and is quite a large spider.

__________________
My T's: Grammostola rosea, 2x Brachypelma smithi, Avicularia avicularia, Theraposa blondi, Cyclosternum pentoralis, Poecilotheria metallica

the T agrestis is also called the Hobo spider, i can assure you it is NOT one of these, these are reputed to have necrotic agents in the venom and the bites from this are often misidentified as Loxotheles bites.
Though there are well over 50 species, iirc something lie 100, as far as i no, its on the Agrestis that has any significance. The y ar often misidentified as the 'aggressive spider' people moften misinterpret the agrestis in the name, where as it US spider and are not in britain

Tegernaria sp are all very similair and pretty indestinguishable, your ONLY way to fully ID, would be to get it to a uni for proper micrscope id... which is pointless, lol

__________________

If that's the case then one of my books on spiders has seriously mis named the yard spider (unless yard spider and the scientific name I found on website are both completely different species). either way it is a huge spider.

__________________
"Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I will
Remember, involve me and I will understand"-Confucius 450BC


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqTzgNP2BK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qZX9Dv0AI4

I agree - its very hard to distinguish Tegenaria apart. I usually just suggest the two most commonly found species, Giganta and domestica (as far as I know these are pretty common anyway).

I actualy read something interesting where they think thats its not the venom that is necrotic, but a bacteria that associates with the spider and lives on its chelicera. I can't remember the paper however...

__________________
Brachypelma albopilosum (Charlotte)
B. Schroederi (slings)
Grammostola sp. "North" Northern gold
G. aurerostriata (slings)
Cyclosternum fasciatum (slings)

Member of the BAS and AAS.

ive got a gigantea in my shed to ,made a massive web across the corner with a funnel gets any escaped crickets

I agree but im no spider expert

__________________
2.2.0 corn 1.0.0 Sinaloan milk snake
2.1.0 royals 1.1.0 barking gecko
0.2.0 cali king / desert king 1.1.0 bearded dragons

thats interesting, give me a pm if you remember the study where you read that, id definately be interested to read myself. Its quite likely as iv udnerstood that the potency of the venom hasnt been established, or even any necrotic agents though i have read a study into it and that confirmed necrotic agents, or atleast necrosis.

Agrestis translates to 'of the field' so yard spider has probably derived from the T agrestis, but i would imagine its used for others too
T agrestis is a smaller Tegenaria, certainly wouldnt be a hobo if it was considered big.

oh yeh, T gigantea is actually a junior synonym of T duellica (1875)

__________________

Ah I see....yet more confusing spider taxonomy...I wish they would hurry up and sort out the arachnids, its a shambles.

__________________
Brachypelma albopilosum (Charlotte)
B. Schroederi (slings)
Grammostola sp. "North" Northern gold
G. aurerostriata (slings)
Cyclosternum fasciatum (slings)

Member of the BAS and AAS.