The vibrating spider is also commonly called the daddy longlegs spider,
after its ... what? Guess. I found this specimen living in close
proximity to
Steatoda cobweb spiders
in my garage. These spiders probably prey upon each other when the
pickings get slim in the wintertime, but as of September, there are
still enough flying insects visiting for all to coexist peacefully. It
is said these spiders, when threatened, vibrate their legs and bodies so
rapidly as to become invisible; hence their other common name: vibrating
spider.
Actually, what they do is, spin themselves in a small circle so
rapidly they become nearly invisible; that is the ones I've seen in my
fathers cellar do this. The quicktime movie link shows one of
these spiders exhibiting this behavior - it's really quite a sight!
Quicktime Movie of Vibrating spider vibrating
(8.8 Mb)
There is another, more famous old wives' tale about this
family of spiders: that their bite is the most dangerous, or their venom
is the most lethal known to man. Of course, that's rubbish. These
spiders have not the equipment for delivery of any but the tiniest
amounts of venom, and that dangerous only to the smallest of creatures,
flies and other spiders, etc. People love to be afraid of spiders,
especially ones that like to live where we live, but these guys are
completely harmless, even beneficial. (I don't tolerate then in my
actual living space, but the garage is ok although I do tire of sweeping
up the insect bits and pieces they are constantly dropping on the floor
after meals.)
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