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Cobweb Spider – Steatoda triangulosa Family Theridiidae – Cobweb Spiders Live female spiders and egg cases photos. Spider Index | Spider Main | Orb Web | Cobweb |
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Cobweb spiders' webs are disorganized, unlike the circular webs made by orb-weavers and other web-building spiders. Cobweb spiders have 8 eyes and 8 legs, 2 body parts, and fang-like mouthparts called chelicerae. Most cobweb spiders live for less than 1 year. At the end of the summer, female cobweb spiders produce a large amount of eggs that they wrap in an egg sac made of silk. |
Cobweb spiders undergo simple metamorphosis: all spiders' young hatch from eggs and look like tiny adults. They shed their skin as they grow. Common in North America, these little gals can be found almost anywhere there are weeds, fences, trees, walls, or other upright structures on which to build their webs. Cobweb spiders are predators, and 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, flies, and other spiders.
![]() I can tolerate these gals living in the garage but not the house! |
References
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Wondering how to get that bug identified? Please see the kind folks at Bugguide.net. (North America) North American Insects & Spiders is dedicated to macro photography of live, wild organisms in situ. |
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North American Insects & Spiders Explore over 3,000 close-up photos and information on over 700 arthropod species commonly found in North America. Our live insects & spiders have been photographed unposed, in the wild, at various locations in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Spiders Index | Spiders Main | Beetles | Butterflies | Stinging Insects |