Arachnology @mander.xyz JonHammCock @lemmy.world 3mo ago

Need help identifying spider (MI, USA)

We just moved to Michigan and these are all around the property (including the basement). Just want to know if it's something I need to be concerned about. Google lens is inconclusive, at least with my non-existent knowledge.

12 comments

It's a "regular" spider. Triangulate cobweb spider.
It looks like an orb weaver. They eat pests and are generally beneficial. The US only has 3 dangerous spiders. The black widow, the brown widow, and the brown recluse. That isn't any of those.
- Interesting. Google (AI?) says they're pretty big, right? This guy was about 1.5cm. Does that align?
  
  Orb weaver is a classification of spiders that includes about 3,000 species, they vary significantly in size. If it makes a "classic" spider web with long strands connected in a circular pattern then it is an orb weaver.
- I believe the hobo spider is also dangerous and lives in the United States.
  
  Hobo spiders are in the US but they aren't dangerous. They are funnel web spiders and some funnel webs, especially in Australia, are extremely dangerous which gives Hobos an undeserved reputation.
I don't think it's an orb weaver (especially since you said its web was a tangle). With some help from Google, I'd say it's a juvenile triangulate cobweb spider. Try searching for that and see if you agree.
- Yes, this is a good fit to the ones I've seen! I feel a little embarrassed if it's that common. I moved here from Virginia and the only time I've seen a body type like this is with black windows.
  
  My wife and adult son are both arachnophobic, and I think that body style is what triggers that brain wiring the most. My take on it is that humans evolving around venomous spiders evolved to be afraid of them (because people who kept their distance from them survived better). Like with a lot of things, it's not a binary, it's a spectrum, and people who are severely arachnophobic just got a lot, and it doesn't change anything if there are no venomous spiders where they live now.
  
  We have that kind of spider in my area a lot (along with black and brown widows), and that body style is the worst for them. Plus, they look a lot like brown widows generally.

12 comments