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False Widow?
Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:41 pm
by bankst
False Widow?
Found prowling around the belfry at Runcorn Town Hall: is this a false widow spider ?
Old Tom.
Re: False Widow?
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:39 pm
by johnmcgaw
Tom,
Spiders belonging to the genus Steatoda are sometimes called 'false widow spiders' but the term is usually only applied to just a single species within the genus, Steatoda nobilis, not yet recorded in Cheshire. Your spider is almost certainly another member of the genus, a female Steatoda bipunctata which is a common spider found in and around houses. sheds and other buildings.
S. nobilis is a large spider (female 8.5 - 14mm long) and S. bipunctata is much smaller (female 4.5 - 7mm long).
Both these species are quite different in overall appearance.
In terms of overall appearance, the only other spider that looks similar to S.bipunctata is Crustulina sticta but this species is much smaller (female ~2.5mm long), is restricted to southern/central/eastern England and is found in fens and bogs.
John
Re: False Widow?
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 11:54 pm
by David_Edwards
Yes, that does indeed look like Steatoda bipunctata. I've had one of these recently - here's a photo of my specimen, photographed on 1.v.2010 03:39 BST, SJ491852 (in case anyone is wondering, the numbers you see in the photo are from a till receipt I pinned to the platform of my macro bench to check critical focusing before shooting the specimen!).
Steatoda bipunctata is apparently known by two different vernacular names. One is the "Rabbit Hutch Spider", because it is frequently found making its home in outdoor rabbit hutches. The other is the "Coffee Bean Spider", an allusion to the somewhat fanciful resemblance of its abdomen to a coffee bean. The species is not, as far as I am aware, known to be of medical significance in humans, unlike the larger Steatoda nobilis.
Dave