Minnesota Spiders

Dolomedes is a large species of nursery web spiders known as fishing spiders, raft spiders, dock spiders or wharf spiders. There are more than 100 currently recognized species worldwide, 8 species in North America north of Mexico. Four species have been recorded in Minnesota.

Fishing spiders have a worldwide distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. They are usually found near permanent bodies of water, or on floating vegetation in a body of water. Some are found in grassy meadows. One, dark fishing spider, wanders well away from water. One, white-banded fishing spider, lives in trees. The remainder are semiaquatic, spending part of their time in or on water.

Some fishing spiders sit quietly at the edge of a lake or pond or on floating vegetation. They rest their front three pairs of legs on the water surface to detect ripples or vibrations of prey. Others stalk prey on land. They eat mostly aquatic insects but also small fish. None hunt from webs, but all make nursery webs for their young.

All fishing spiders are covered with water repelling (hydrophobic) hairs. They are able to run across the surface of the water and even to “climb” under the surface to subdue prey. When they submerge, air is trapped on the underside of their abdomen, and they are able to breath underwater.

Common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) is the most common house spider in the eastern United States. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. In the United States it is common east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains, uncommon between.

Common house spider is found in and around human dwellings, sheds, barns, and privies, in stables, under highway bridges, and in culverts. It appears year-round when indoors, but it cannot survive northern winters outdoors. Its web is often built in upper angles of rooms and in corners of window frames and doorways. It hunts at night, hanging upside-down in the middle of the web. During the day it retreats into a corner or a crack.

Common house spider is a medium-sized colorful comb-footed spider. The front part of the body is short, flat, highest in the middle, and yellowish-brown. The back part of the body is gray with white and dark markings. There is a dark horizontal line just before the highest point, white chevrons before the line, a white spot just behind the highest point, and dark chevrons behind the spot. On lighter individuals the markings are indistinct. On the male the abdomen is more slender. The legs are yellow with dark bands on the female, orangish on the male.

Orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta) is a sedentary, small, brilliantly colored, long-jawed orb weaver. It is one of the most common spiders in the eastern United States, but is less common in Minnesota, where it reaches the western extent of its range. It is found in forests, dense woodlands, woodland edges, shrubby meadows, gardens, and orchards.

The species name venusta is Latin for “beautiful” and it is easy to see why it was given to this spider. The abdomen is silvery-white with four pairs of dark stripes, a yellow stripe on each side, and often a pair of bright coppery-red spots toward the rear.

Charles Darwin collected this species in 1832 on his voyage of the Beagle. He named it Leucauge argyrobapta. Both names are from the Greek, Leucauge meaning “with a bright gleam,” and argyrobapta meaning “dipped in silver.” The specimen was lost after Darwin’s voyage back to London.

In 1973, as party of an experiment to study web building in zero gravity, two orchard weaver spiders were brought to the U.S. space station Skylab 3. After some time to adjust to weightlessness, the spiders constructed complete webs that were not much different than those constructed on earth.

Brilliant jumping spider (Phidippus clarus) occurs across North America from coast to coast. It is very common in Minnesota. A study in 1997 surveyed jumping spiders in 30 locations around Minnesota. The author collected 572 jumping spiders representing 15 species. Brilliant jumping spider was by far the most common, with 299 specimens (52%) collected.

Brilliant jumping spider is found from July to September in moderately moist fields on grasses and perennial plants. It is a small to medium-sized spider (order Araneae) but a relatively large jumping spider (family Salticidae). Adults are mostly black with four pairs of white spots and two red stripes on the abdomen.

The female is a paragon of parental perseverance. In the fall she creates a large white egg sac at the top of a tall grass or herbaceous plant and drops eggs into the sac. She prevents the eggs from drying out by repeatedly adding silk to cover the egg mass. She stays with the egg sac until the young disperse in about a month. During this time she does not feed and usually dies from starvation a few days later.

Orb weaver spiders (Aranidae) is the third largest family of spiders. There are about 3,100 species in 169 genera worldwide. They spin a large circular web that hangs vertically. This web is called an “orb”, which gives this family its common name.

Marbled orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus) is a medium-sized orb weaver spider. Females are about twice the size of males. They are highly variable in appearance, but all have a light colored abdomen with black, gray, and white markings, at least at the front edge, that give them a marbled appearance.

The marbled orbweaver orb is a closed hub, 20″ to 30″ in diameter, with 15 to 35 spokes (radii) that are not sticky. The radii extend to the center of the hub and are connected to each other by sticky threads that spiral outward from the center. The spider also makes a retreat out of silk near one edge of the orb. The retreat is connected by a signal thread to the center of the web, allowing the spider to feel vibrations of prey. The web is usually consumed and a new web constructed each evening.

northern long-toothed sheetweaver (Drapetisca alteranda)

punctated ground crab spider (Xysticus punctatus)

different cobweb weaver (Theridion differens)

boreal combfoot (Steatoda borealis)

candy-striped spider (Enoplognatha ovata)

cobweb weaver (Family Theridiidae)