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Cobweb Spider - Enoplognatha ovata Family Theridiidae - Cobweb Spiders, Scaffold Web Spiders, Comb-footed Spiders Female spider photographed in the wild at West Chicago, Illinois. Size = 10mm Insects and Spiders | Spiders Index | Spider Pictures | Jumping Spiders | Beetles Index | Butterflies |
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Cobweb spiders spin an irregular web that can be described as an intersecting mass of scaffold work with a central area consisting of a three-dimensional trellis of silk. The common name "comb-footed spider" results from the "comb" on their last pair of legs. The comb is a series of serrated spines which they use to comb out the silk from the spinnerets. This combed silk is not sticky but insects get entangled in it. The black widow spider is a member of this family. [2] |
Common in North America, cobweb spiders be found almost anywhere there
are weeds, fences, trees, walls, or other upright structures to build their webs.
They will eat almost anything that is small enough to get trapped in
their webs. Like most web-building spiders, cobweb spiders tend to have
poor vision - they don't need to see very well because they can "feel"
prey when it gets caught in their webs. Most cobweb spiders are
considered beneficial to humans. They eat flies, mosquitoes, and other
annoying creatures. |
Cobweb spider in curled-and-tied leaf retreat
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Cobweb spiders have eight eyes, eight legs, 2 body parts, and fang-like mouthparts called
chelicerae. Cobweb spiders undergo simple metamorphosis: like all spiders, young cobweb spiders hatch from eggs and look like tiny adults. They shed their skin as they grow. Most cobweb spiders live for less than 1 year. At the end of the summer, females produce a large amount of eggs that they wrap in a
papery egg sac made of silk.
Spiderlings hatch in the spring.
 Female cobweb spider and egg cases. Each papery case contains dozens of eggs. Parasteatoda tepidariorum |
References
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